A growth tier will be added to the STAR Market at the Shanghai Stock Exchange as part of the efforts to deepen reform in the technology-focused board, Wu Qing, chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, said on June 18.

Wu released the message during the two-day Lujiazui Forum held in Shanghai.

The fifth set of listing rules for companies to float at the STAR Market, which allows the listing of rapidly growing but still unprofitable companies from biomedicine and semiconductor sectors, will be restarted, according to Wu.

This is aimed at more precisely serving high-quality technology companies with major breakthroughs, broad business prospects, and sustained R&D investment. Special policy arrangements will also be introduced to strengthen information disclosure, risk management, and investor suitability, Wu said.

An additional six reform measures will be introduced for the STAR Market. Among these, a pilot mechanism introducing senior professional institutional investors to companies applicable to the fifth set of listing rules will be launched. A pilot program under which quality technology companies can go through pre-review for their initial public offering may be conducted, he said.

The applicable range of the fifth set of listing rules may be expanded to frontier sectors including artificial intelligence, commercial aviation and low-altitude economy, he added.

Unprofitable technology companies under review will be supported in conducting capital increases and issuing additional shares to existing shareholders. The refinancing system for STAR Market companies and the criteria for identifying strategic investors will be improved. Investment products and related risk management tools based on the STAR Market will also be enriched, said Wu.

Wu also announced on Wednesday that the third set of listing rules at the ChiNext in the Shenzhen bourse, which allows unprofitable companies to go public, will take effect.

Registration of China's first two real estate investment trust products for data centers is scheduled to be approved on Wednesday, according to Wu. Technology companies will be further supported to conduct asset securitization and REIT-based financing by revitalizing their assets, such as intellectual property rights and data, he added.