Shanghai seals projects worth US$74.9 billion
SHANGHAI has launched new global investment partnership programs and will open 14 new industrial parks, officials announced at an investment conference early this month. It will also leverage its “five new cities” development strategy to attract investment and boost innovation.
Business leaders and government officials also witnessed the signing of 216 investment projects valued at 490 billion yuan (US$74.9 billion) at the Shanghai Global Investment Promotion Conference, which was held for the first time.
City leaders, including Party Secretary Li Qiang and Mayor Gong Zheng, stressed that Shanghai will continue to make efforts in attracting investment and strive for high-quality economic development.
The first batch of business leaders and industrial associations with global influence has been selected to partner Shanghai in its plan to become one of the world’s top investment destinations.
Members of the Shanghai Global Investment Partnership Program are expected to lead in connecting top projects, industrial growth blueprints and professionals with the city.
“They will become brand ambassadors of Shanghai in attracting investment, and will bring the best investors and the best resources,” Gong said.
Four corporate executives — Michael Diekmann of Allianz SE, Stephen Schwarzman of Blackstone, Zhang Lei of Hillhouse Capital and Shen Nanpeng of Sequoia Capital — are Shanghai Global Investment Partners 2021.
Sequoia Capital has already invested 18.5 billion yuan (US$2.8 billion) in the city last year.
The six industrial entities in the program are SEMI for electronics manufacturing and design supply chain, China Association for Public Companies, China-Europe Association for Technical and Economic Cooperation, PwC, CBRE and Cushman & Wakefield.
SEMI helps in Chinese semiconductor industry development and boosts international cooperation.
The 216 projects signed cover three strategic industries for the city’s digital transformation — integrated circuits, artificial intelligence and bio-medicine.
They include a new single-dose COVID-19 vaccine production facility, Bilibili’s new headquarters, an electronics materials park to support the domestic chip industry, a 5G valley with various industrial applications and a smart driving AI chip development project.
Shanghai will open 14 industrial parks, covering chip design, advanced materials, data harbor, robots and aerospace, making the city home to a total of 40 parks.
In the digital economy, the city is home to giants such as Pinduoduo, Red and HelloBike, leading in some vertical Internet spaces such as third-party payment and eSports. With an improved business environment and policy support, it has become the regional headquarters for giants such as Bilibili, Meituan and ByteDance. Huawei and NetEase have invested heavily in Shanghai recently — 7 billion yuan and 5 billion yuan respectively — according to the Shanghai Commission of Economy and Informatization.
Shanghai will continue to relax entry thresholds to boost the digital economy, mainly covering elderly services, public health care, and education, said Qiu Wei, head of the commission’s software and information service division.
Each of the “five new cities” will build its own brand leveraging its unique strengths, officials told the conference.
Jiading, positioned as an international automobile smart city, will focus on key industries covering intelligent auto manufacturing, health and medical, as well as intelligent sensors.
Qingpu, aiming to become a digital hub in the Yangtze River Delta region, will beef up the construction of a number of digital economyrelated platforms including the Beidou West Hongqiao Base, Shixi Software Information Park and Huawei Research and Development Center.
Songjiang will focus on technological and systematic innovations, and Fengxian will focus on boosting its beauty and health industry.
Nanhui will sharpen its competitive edge in digitalization and intelligent manufacturing.