China’s top industry regulator said on Thursday that it has nurtured nearly 9,000 “little giants” companies, a term coined in reference to promising startups developing strategically important technologies such as chips and robotics, with the number expected to grow to 10,000 by 2025. The central government has been pushing the “little giants” program since 2018 after the US began imposing tariffs on Chinese products and blacklisting leading domestic firms. China will continue to push forward the development of small and medium-sized enterprises with plans to release new stimulus measures to help them with liquidity, Jin Zhuanglong, the country’s minister of Industry and Information Technology, said at a press release event. [Economic Information Daily, in Chinese]