The rapid rise of "one-person companies" has injected new vitality into individual entrepreneurship and economic development, and is also reshaping the entrepreneurial landscape in the AI era.
Article author and source: Xinhua News Agency
With the rapid development of artificial intelligence technology, "One Person Company" (OPC) is expected to experience explosive growth in 2026. A "One Person Company" refers to an individual who, with the help of AI tools, independently completes the entire business cycle from product design and development to market launch, achieving a "single-person" entrepreneurial model. The rapid rise of "One Person Companies" is injecting new vitality into individual entrepreneurship and economic development, and is also reshaping the entrepreneurial landscape in the AI era.
"One-person companies" are emerging rapidly.
After the Spring Festival in 2026, Zheng Haifeng established Yansenyao (Qingdao) Digital Culture and Creative Content Production Co., Ltd. in Qingdao High-tech Zone. Although the entire company consists of only Zheng Haifeng, she is not without help in some specific tasks. Several "AI employees" handle publicity, promotion, finance and other matters for her.
Zheng Haifeng has long been deeply involved in the field of children's science and technology innovation training, constantly interacting with various technological products and innovative models, cultivating a keen industry insight. In late 2025, the AI animation industry experienced explosive growth, a hot topic that drew her attention to the diverse application potential of AI technology. Currently, Zheng Haifeng's company primarily provides AI-powered promotional services to enterprises, efficiently creating promotional materials such as text, images, and videos using AI technology to help companies complete their self-media promotion. Simultaneously, the company focuses on AI search optimization and operation, addressing the pain points of information display on AI platforms by optimizing enterprise information and business content, solving the problems of enterprises being "unsearchable" and "unknown."
In March of this year, the "China OPC Development Survey Report 2026" released by the relevant research group of the State Administration for Market Regulation showed that my country's OPC development is showing a rapid growth trend. Geographically, it is concentrated in the Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta, Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and emerging industrial cities in the central and western regions. The industry distribution is characterized by "light assets, high intelligence, and new business models", and entrepreneurs are mainly from the post-90s and post-00s generations.
The OPC (One Person + AI) startup model, centered on "one person + AI," is becoming a new trend for the deep integration of the digital economy and innovation and entrepreneurship. Tools such as AI large-scale models, SaaS systems, and cloud services allow individuals to complete tasks previously requiring teams, such as design, programming, marketing, and finance, lowering the barrier to entry from "organizational level" to "individual level." Meanwhile, the new Company Law, implemented on July 1, 2024, simplifies the registration process for "one-person companies," lowers the registered capital requirement, and makes it easier for individuals to start companies.
Today, in niche sectors such as professional consulting, creative design, and cross-border e-commerce, entrepreneurs can meet market demands without large teams. With the increasing prevalence of e-commerce platforms, self-media platforms, and remote collaboration tools, entrepreneurs can sell products, expand their customer base, and operate their businesses without physical stores or fixed teams, significantly reducing the cost of trial and error.
"One-person companies" are reshaping the entrepreneurial model.
Liu Yiming, associate professor at the School of Economics of Shandong University, believes that "one-person companies" break the shackles of traditional employment and provide a low-cost entrepreneurial channel for talented people. This allows working professionals, freelancers, and recent college graduates to transform their professional skills into commercial value without large sums of money, thus transforming them from "employees" into "entrepreneurs."
Compared to traditional enterprises, "one-person companies" are extremely lightweight, have very low operating costs, and are highly focused on their business. A "one-person company" is operated independently by the founder, with no hierarchical management, a simplified decision-making process, and the ability to adjust business direction at any time according to market demands, without needing to consider team placement or asset disposal issues. The "one-person company" business units incubated by Jiangsu Dreame Technology have an average setup time of only 12 days, far faster than the preparation cycle of traditional enterprises.
Kang Jianfeng, 49, has already had three entrepreneurial experiences, the most recent being the founding of a "one-man company"—Jinan Quanfeng Information Technology Co., Ltd.—in 2025. "With the iteration of artificial intelligence, digital and virtual employees will become increasingly intelligent, and entrepreneurs will be able to quickly seize new opportunities," he said.
"One-person companies" do not need to pay employee salaries, and have little or no rent. With the help of AI tools and cloud services, their monthly operating costs can be controlled to between several hundred and several thousand yuan. Data shows that 92% of highly profitable "one-person companies" make extensive use of AI tools, significantly reducing operating costs through technological substitution.
Li Mahui's one-man company uses AI tools to design and sell sporting goods and fitness equipment. After moving into the Jinan Central Business District International Trade Industrial Park, the annual office space rental fee is only 35,000 yuan. "Without AI tools, it would be very difficult for someone like me, starting a business empty-handed and clueless, to succeed," Li Mahui said.
"One-person companies" typically specialize in a niche market, leveraging their core expertise to create a differentiated advantage. They don't pursue large-scale expansion but focus on a "small but beautiful" business model. For example, illustrators use AI to build their personal brand, focusing on hand-drawn creations and customized services; cross-border livestreamers operate their own livestreaming rooms, focusing on the sales of a single product category to achieve precise profitability.
Liu Yiming said that the rise of "one-person companies" has changed the rules of competition and collaboration in the industry. The traditional logic of industrial chain collaboration and large-scale production has been broken, and the industry is gradually transforming towards refinement, lightweighting, and personalization.
Multiple regions are vying to establish OPC communities
As the scale of "one-person companies" gradually expands, many places across the country have introduced OPC support policies to accelerate the establishment of OPC communities.
Not long ago, Guangdong Province issued an action plan to support the innovative development of artificial intelligence OPC, proposing to cultivate 10 leading artificial intelligence OPC ecosystem communities this year, and to build 100 ecosystem communities by 2028, gathering 10,000 innovative and entrepreneurial talents, and making Guangdong a leading artificial intelligence OPC development hub in the country.
In February of this year, Qingdao, Shandong Province, proposed to accelerate the formation of an innovation and entrepreneurship hub during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, featuring marine artificial intelligence and characterized by a "single-person + multi-agent" model. To support OPC development, Qingdao has launched 12 measures, including computing power vouchers, talent subsidies, and entrepreneurial loans, providing OPC entrepreneurs with a favorable environment for "ready-to-move-in and immediate startup." Zheng Haifeng is one of the beneficiaries; her company went from proposing the idea to deciding to locate in Qingdao in just one day, and from business processing to receiving the OPC business license in just half an hour.
The Jinan Central Business District International Trade Industrial Park in Shandong Province provides resident companies with a one-stop, full-process service, including qualification processing, financial and tax services, talent support, supply chain matching, global exhibitions, financing support, and diversified training. Since its launch in early February, the Jinan "Digital Intelligence Ecosystem OPC Community" has seen a continuous influx of applications, with the first batch of 51 companies already registered, becoming a practical example of Jinan's efforts to develop new artificial intelligence business models and cultivate micro-level innovative entities.
Liu Yiming believes that the rush to establish "one-person companies" across various regions is a race for innovative momentum and development opportunities, targeting the innovative value, talent resources, and economic potential behind them. "One-person companies" are the "micro-cells" of urban innovation; their flexible entrepreneurial models and cutting-edge technological applications provide new impetus for urban innovative development.
