Robot and metaverse industries earmarked

At the Shanghai Global Investment Promotion Conference 2024 held on March 29, Shanghai city government released opportunities for 10 key industry chains and segments to attract global investors. They cover big models, humanoid robots, metaverse, wide bandgap semiconductors, biomanufacturing, large aircraft, large cruise ships, commercial aviation, new materials and hydrogen energy.

With Shanghai's large number of innovation-driven enterprises in intelligent chip technology, nearly 100 basic big models and industryspecific large-scale models have been released in the city, along with large-scale intelligent computing clusters, big model testing and verification centers and around 40 investment and financing institutions.

Leveraging its industrial bases in Xuhui district, the city is cultivating professional incubation platforms for big models, providing innovative enterprises with services such as computing support, language data, testing and evaluation and financing services. Additionally, officials said humanoid robots are helping establish Shanghai as an industrial cluster with global influence, accelerating breakthroughs in key robotics fields such as electrically driven joints and dexterous hands.

As for the metaverse, Shanghai has become a domestic innovation hub for the industry, driven by the model of "technology plus products plus scenarios". It is building a new ecosystem for metaverse development through collaboration around key technologies, digital tools, hardware products and digital content. With five industry public service platforms currently under construction and the opening of some 100 major city-level projects involving the application of the metaverse, the industry is expected to reach 350 billion yuan ($48 billion).

As a global hub for the third and fourth generation wide bandgap semiconductor industry, Shanghai has formed an industrial chain involving substrate materials, device design, process manufacturing and module application. With the Lin-gang Special Area of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone as the base for the industry, a wide bandgap semiconductor industrial cluster is taking shape.

Efforts are also being made to promote Shanghai's development of bio-manufacturing technology and its industrial applications, including the layout of bio-based catalysts, monomer preparation, material aggregation and product applications, with Pudong New Area as the core and Baoshan and Jinshan regions as supplementary support areas.

With the mass production of China's self-developed C919 large passenger aircraft, Shanghai is advancing toward becoming a world-class civil aviation industry cluster. Efforts are being made to accelerate the layout of structural components of large aircraft, composite materials, airborne systems, engines and manufacturing equipment.

In 2023, China's domestically developed large cruise ship Adora Magic City began commercial operation, kicking off Shanghai's journey to enhance the design, construction, support facilities and operation of large cruise ships. Pudong, Baoshan and Hongkou are accelerating the cultivation of globally competitive cruise companies, and the city is implementing policies such as facilitating permanent residency for foreign shipping talent and simplifying cruise tourism.

Shanghai is also focusing on key projects and accelerating development of an industrial chain involving rockets, satellites, ground stations and terminals to support its growing status as China's civil aerospace base. It is expected that by 2025, the city will achieve a space information industry scale valued at 200 billion yuan.

As for new material fields involving fibers, membranes, electronic chemicals, superconductors, composite materials and special alloys, Shanghai is taking the lead in accelerating the layout of those segmented fields and promoting their value. The local administration is striving to speed up construction of a material digital engine, drive paradigm innovation and accelerate innovation in new materials.

Meanwhile, at the forefront of the hydrogen energy industry, Shanghai is constructing a complete industrial chain system for hydrogen production, storage, transportation and utilization. By promoting the rapid application of hydrogen energy in transportation, industry and energy fields, the industrial scale is expected to eventually hit 100 billion yuan.