Shanghai building first-class business environment as nation plans for future industries

With China’s new five-year development blueprint approved last week signaling investment stability, Shanghai reinforced the message days later by hosting a global investment summit that highlighted its commitment to a world-class business environment.

The 2026 Shanghai Global Investment Promotion Conference that opened on March 14 features a main promotion session, two enterprise roundtables, multiple business matching and thematic investment events, as well as a series of activities during the “Invest in Shanghai” week.

Additionally, Shanghai unveiled 31 new quality drivers at the conference, precisely targeting key bottlenecks in enterprise development.

Among these initiatives, the city launched 11 public service platforms, including one for computing power scheduling, aimed at addressing critical production factors and industrial chain blockages. It also spotlighted 10 pilot-scale testing platforms to tackle the global challenge of crossing the “Valley of Death” in commercializing innovations, including the world’s first pilot platform for humanoid robot components.

Leveraging its unique advantages as a megacity, Shanghai further rolled out 10 benchmark application scenarios in areas such as embodied AI, autonomous driving, and the low-altitude economy.

China will focus on developing six emerging pillar industries and six future-oriented industries, said Zheng Shanjie, head of the National Development and Reform Commission, at a press conference on the sidelines of the fourth session of the 14th National People’s Congress early this month.

The emerging pillar industries cover integrated circuits, aerospace, biomedicine, the low-altitude economy, new-type energy storage, and intelligent robots. The future-oriented industries include quantum technology, biomanufacturing, green hydrogen and nuclear fusion energy, brain-computer interfaces, embodied intelligence, and 6G.

Backed by national strategies, companies at the conference are racing to secure their stake in the “future.” Despite global uncertainties, both domestic and international players are doubling down on their commitment to Shanghai with growing optimism.

Martin Fischer, president and CEO of Zeiss Greater China, noted that China is leading technological progress in multiple fields, and with its abundance of highly skilled talent, Shanghai will help the company find new development opportunities in areas such as healthcare, AI and advanced manufacturing.

China has become Zeiss’ largest market globally. In February, the company began construction on its comprehensive campus for the Greater China headquarters in Shanghai ahead of schedule, with a total investment of 1.2 billion yuan (about 174.17 million U.S. dollars), revealed Fischer, adding that the project marks Zeiss’ largest infrastructure investment in China to date.

For Carrier Global Corporation, a foreign company with deep roots in Shanghai, the city’s greatest appeal lies in its commitment to openly sharing application scenarios. For instance, Shanghai has explicitly proposed in its latest plan to “deploy new types of infrastructure, such as computing power, in a prudently proactive manner,” which has created fresh market opportunities for the company.

In January, Carrier’s newly built Phoenix Project, an air-cooled unit production line, officially commenced operations at its Baoshan base in Shanghai, with an investment of over 100 million yuan. The production line deeply integrates AI, digital and automation technologies, achieving an approximate 33 percent increase in production capacity compared to before the renovation.

Hou Zongfang, vice president of the humanoid robot developer UBTECH, stated that Shanghai holds a distinct strategic advantage as a central hub in the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta, where the vast majority of the automotive-grade supply chain industry is concentrated. In the future, the company is considering investing in a commercial humanoid robot intelligent manufacturing base in Shanghai, while simultaneously establishing an institute for embodied AI industrial applications.

Shanghai Smartlogic Technology Ltd., a high-tech semiconductor unicorn based in Shanghai, specializes in the field of AI for Science (AI4S). Zha Hao, the company’s chairman, said that Shanghai’s comprehensive industrial ecosystem for AI and biomedicine serves as the “ideal soil” for the company to flourish in the field of AI4S.

“We act as a ‘scientific data factory,’ providing high-quality data to Shanghai’s research institutions and tech startups. This helps accelerate the emergence of more precise scientific models and more original biomedical breakthroughs on this fertile ground of innovation,” he said.

“Over the next five years, we will invest 1 billion yuan in Shanghai to build a smart factory with an annual production capacity exceeding 300,000 tonnes, as well as a global R&D center, for the development and production of new energy and embodied AI products,” said Fang Zhenying, chairman of Youxing Shark (Shanghai) Technology Co., Ltd., a company focused on key new energy materials.

Fang added that Shanghai’s favorable business environment will further enhance the company’s comprehensive competitiveness, enabling it to achieve more sustainable development.

Looking further ahead, Chen Rui, CEO of the fusion energy tech firm Startorus Fusion, said that Shanghai is pursuing multiple technological pathways in the field of controllable nuclear fusion. The company’s decision to establish a presence in Shanghai is based not only on practical conditions but also on a strategic aim to position itself for future technological competition.

This confidence is backed by solid numbers, as data from the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization highlights the city’s robust momentum. In 2025, Shanghai’s industrial investment grew by 20 percent year on year, with manufacturing investment surging by 22.8 percent.

“In line with the needs of industrial development, we will continue to iterate and optimize our list of key elements to accelerate the creation of a more competitive industrial ecosystem,” said Tang Wenkan, director of the commission.