AI most promising in 2018 for Chinese startups: report

Artificial intelligence (AI) is considered by Chinese entrepreneurs as the most promising area in the innovation economy in 2018, says a Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) report released on Tuesday.

According to the bank's China Startup Outlook 2018 report, 36% of surveyed Chinese startup executives are most confident in the prospects of AI, followed by life science/healthcare (16%) and big data (11%).

The report is based on 1,045 responses to SVB's annual survey among startup leaders around the world, mostly from the US, China and the UK.

It shows that 80% of Chinese entrepreneurs think this year's business conditions will be better than those of last year, more optimistic compared to 74% last year.

On the other hand, difficulties remain in fundraising and securing talent. Data show that 88% Chinese startups say it is challenging to raise capital, and only 1% of them think finding skilled talent is not a problem.