(Yicai) Nov. 28 -- The Yangtze River Delta region, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, the most economically developed urban clusters in China, are home to 90 percent of Chinese pre-unicorn companies, according to a new report.

Of the 100 pre-unicorn firms in China, 59 are located in the Yangtze River Delta region, 17 in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, and 14 in the Greater Bay Area, a recent report by the China Center for Information Industry Development Technology Innovation showed.

Pre-unicorn companies are innovative high-growth tech firms with a valuation of less than USD1 billion but high growth potential, which are highly likely to become unicorns, or privately held startups worth at least USD1 billion and set up no more than 10 years ago, within three to five years.

Twenty-four Chinese cities host at least one pre-unicorn company, with Shanghai having the most at 18, followed by Beijing with 17, Suzhou with eight, Shenzhen with seven, and Guangzhou and Nanjing with six each.

The companies on the list come from the integrated circuits, biomanufacturing, autonomous driving tech, new energy, artificial intelligence, robotics, commercial aerospace, and seven other areas, the report said. The most, 36, focus on the IC market, with a combined market capitalization of nearly USD24.9 billion, while 14, worth about USD9.9 billion in total, focus on the biomanufacturing market.

Shanghai has a complete supply chain layout from chip design and manufacturing to high-end equipment, according to the report, which added that the city's advantage as a national financial center can provide long-term support for technology-intensive and long-cycle chip startups.

Suzhou can quickly complete tape-out, packaging, testing, and even system integration for chips designed in Shanghai thanks to its local IC packaging, testing, and manufacturing bases, the report said.

In addition, Shanghai has formed the most dense and complete biopharma industrial cluster in China, covering the entire supply chain from target discovery, compound screening, preclinical research, clinical trials, to large-scale production, while also providing full supply chain empowerment for the rapid growth of relevant pre-unicorn companies.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Martin Kadiev