China is home to the most artificial intelligence (AI) start-ups valued at USD1 billion or above, according to CB Insights, a research firm that tracks venture capital activity. Six of the 11 so-called unicorns in the annual compilation of top AI start-ups are from China, with SenseTime taking top spot with a valuation of USD4.5 billion. Two Chinese facial recognition companies on the list, SenseTime and Face++, also received the most equity funding among all AI start-ups, raising USD1.6 billion and USD608 million respectively. Other top AI unicorns from China include Yitu Technology, 4Paradigm, and autonomous driving companies Pony.ai and Momenta.

The rankings highlight China’s efforts in developing technology that has been dubbed the fourth industrial revolution. In an ambitious three-step blueprint, China wants to catch up with the U.S. in AI technology and applications by 2020, see major breakthroughs by 2025, and become a global leader in the field by 2030. The Chinese government has hand-picked five companies to spearhead national research efforts, including Baidu focusing on autonomous driving, Alibaba Group working on smart cities, and Tencent specializing in computer vision for medical diagnosis. Smaller start-up iFlyTek was designated national champion in voice intelligence, while SenseTime’s focus is on intelligent vision.

The list of most valuable AI companies comes after several years of robust funding in the sector. Overall global investments in AI start-ups rose 1.5 times year-on-year to USD10.7 billion in 2017 from USD4 billion the year before, according to ABI Research. Chinese AI start-ups raised USD4.9 billion in 2017, nudging out their U.S. counterparts which had USD4.4 billion in funding. Still, the majority of top AI start-ups – regardless of their size – are domiciled in the U.S., according to CB Insights. Among the top 100, only 23 are headquartered outside the U.S., including six each from China, Israel and the United Kingdom, the South China Morning Post reports.