There will be more Chinese unicorns in the hard technology space thanks to the fast development in fields such as 5G, artificial intelligence (AI), big data and the Internet of Things (IoT), predicts Chen Hong, chairman of investment management firm Hina Group.

In the past two decades, China has created some giant consumer-facing, service-led tech companies such as Alibaba and Tencent. But Chen expects that in the next 10 years, the country will see more unicorns in different types of technology.

"We created many unicorns in consumer-internet space, but we believe in the future, you're going to see a lot of unicorns in the hard technology space," he told CGTN on the sidelines of the two-day New Economy Forum in Beijing.

Chen said that more investment should be made in core technologies and emphasized the importance of big data. "Data is the future. In the past, we invested in physical goods, physical properties, real estate. In the future, what we're saying a lot of is IoT, 5G, computing… they will generate tremendous amount of data," he said.

He said that the government should play a significant role in terms of regulating the use of data and protecting users' privacy.

"The government needs to define policies and regulations to make sure that privacy has been protected," he suggested.

"We're very concerned," Chen said of China-U.S. trade relations, adding that if the two countries "decouple" in the tech arena, both sides will be hurt and costs in the whole value chain will increase.

"That is not good for both countries, not good for the entire world," he said.