(Yicai Global) March 8 -- China's stock markets are extending their arms to embrace tech unicorns, but many believe they still won't be able to list as they are not yet bringing in a stable profit.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission has spoken with several artificial intelligence companies, but few expect to list on the A-share market, financial magazine Caijing reported. The country has 28 unicorns across four emerging sectors: biotechnology, cloud computing, AI and high-end manufacturing, which meet listing requirements.

The CSRC and Shenzhen Stock Exchange are stepping up efforts to make conditions more favorable for new-economy unicorns to go public, Wang Jianjun, general manger of the south China bourse, said on March 3, without explaining the easing plans in detail.

But relaxing policies does not necessarily mean looser requirements on profitability, said an executive at an AI unicorn worth over USD2 billion. Many artificial intelligence companies are still investing heavily so are unable to meet profit requirements on the A-share market, he added, saying his company had medium-term plans to list in Hong Kong or the United States.

Profitability is a key requirement to list on China's stock markets. IPO applicants must have made a profit for three straight fiscal years and tallied over CNY30 million (USD4.8 million) in net income.