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Sprint to the Global Pinnacle
The past weekend was exceptionally lively in Shanghai.
First, on March 12, the 2026 China Household Appliances and Consumer Electronics Expo (AWE 2026) kicked off, with a plethora of robots and ubiquitous AI elements not only bringing the future of home living a step closer to reality but also positioning this exhibition, known as the &#34;Chinese version of CES,&#34; to lead global trends.
Following that, on March 14, the 2026 Shanghai Global Investment Promotion Conference (hereinafter referred to as the &#34;Global Investment Promotion Conference&#34;) opened. At the conference, Shanghai once again extended an &#34;invitation to heroes&#34; to the world; outside the venue, Shanghai's breakout has already begun—not only in discussions about the development directions of participating enterprises but also reflected in their actions to increase investment in Shanghai. The global future industrial center, represented by AI, is accelerating its migration to China and Shanghai.
The commonality between the two events goes beyond AI. They are both among the first activities following the operational launch of the Eastern Hub International Business Cooperation Zone, and the Pudong Leading Area, where the Eastern Hub is located, represents the highest level of China's opening up to the outside world and will become an engine for various innovative elements to gather in Shanghai.
Standing at the starting point of the &#34;14th Five-Year Plan,&#34; both events share a common direction: Shanghai is attempting to reconstruct its global coordinates. At the Global Investment Promotion Conference, Shanghai publicly declared: Shanghai's GDP has entered the top five globally and will further strive to become &#34;a socialist modern international metropolis with global influence.&#34;
How prepared is Shanghai for this sprint to the global pinnacle?
01
Not Just &#34;Raising Lobsters&#34;
Recently, &#34;lobsters&#34; have undoubtedly been the hottest topic. The market has seen one &#34;wealth creation myth&#34; after another driven by &#34;lobsters&#34;; many cities are eager to follow suit, promptly incorporating &#34;lobsters&#34; into government support policies.
In this grand AI revolution, Shanghai will naturally not be absent. Throughout the Global Investment Promotion Conference, &#34;lobsters&#34; repeatedly made appearances as expected. However, compared to the urgency of &#34;All in,&#34; Shanghai exhibits more composure and determination focused on the long-term and orderly development of the industry.
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On March 12, the 2026 China Household Appliances and Consumer Electronics Expo opened in Shanghai. Image source: Xinhua News Agency
One of the most influential companies is undoubtedly MiniMax. Previous data showed that the daily and weekly rankings for OpenClaw's call volume were dominated by Chinese companies, forming the &#34;Lobster Three Musketeers&#34; pattern. Among them, Shanghai Xiyu Jizhi Technology Co., Ltd.'s large model MiniMax and Shanghai Jiyue Xingchen Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd.'s large model Step are both foundational large models in Shanghai.
As one of the guest speakers at the conference, MiniMax founder and CEO Yan Junjie did not talk much about the &#34;lobster,&#34; but instead recounted the company's development journey over the past few years. As he mentioned, the company has continuously supplemented user scenarios in recent years, becoming a driving force for development, which is inseparable from Shanghai's open and innovative environment and encouragement for enterprises to be open-source and accessible to the public.
As an artificial intelligence computing engine service provider, Shanshu Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. CEO Luo Xiaoqiu believes that the &#34;lobster&#34; is just &#34;a small point.&#34; Unlike previous industrial revolutions where demand was concentrated in Europe and the United States, this round of AI industry demand is in China. The &#34;lobster craze&#34; indicates that China is expected to promote the development of artificial intelligence with industrial advantages, and it is rapidly evolving across the entire technological system from hardware to software to applications. The key lies in whether it can seize applications and ride the wave.
In this regard, Shanghai has already identified its direction. Throughout the conference, &#34;ecology&#34; and &#34;endpoints&#34; were the two major keywords.
On that day, the conference specially set up a financing summit themed on artificial intelligence endpoints. The meeting released a clear signal: the explosion period for artificial intelligence endpoints is about to arrive. As Liu Chuanjian, founder and CEO of Liulian Intelligent, mentioned, unlike the previous strong Shenzhen and weak Shanghai endpoint pattern, new endpoints in the AI era may appear across various industries, and Shanghai also has the opportunity to break through.
In October last year, Shanghai issued the &#34;Action Plan for the High-Quality Development of the Intelligent Terminal Industry in Shanghai (2026-2027),&#34; proposing that by 2027, the overall scale of the intelligent terminal industry will exceed 300 billion yuan, achieving a scale of ten million units for artificial intelligence computers, artificial intelligence smartphones, and artificial intelligence new terminals, contributing new growth to the economy.
The concurrently held AWE perfectly complements this discussion, representing the &#34;front and back&#34; of Shanghai's industrial development: one side is the current industrial transformation, and the other side is the future of innovation.
Ecology is the &#34;winning hand&#34; for Shanghai to tap into endpoint potential.
Wu Xucheng, Deputy General Manager of Shanghai Guotou Xiandao, pointed out that based on NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang's theory of the &#34;five-layer cake&#34; of artificial intelligence, China has an absolute advantage in both the bottom energy layer and the top application layer. At the meeting, several new energy material companies announced increased investments in Shanghai, enhancing the new energy supply system in Shanghai.
Shanshu Technology, which originated in Beijing, recently also established its new headquarters in Shanghai. Luo Xiaoqiu pointed out that Shanghai's accumulation in the integrated circuit industry over the past few years has created a good soil for the current development of artificial intelligence, which is also the main reason for the company's choice of Shanghai.
02
Turning &#34;Reverse&#34; into &#34;Forward&#34;
In addition to the visible industrial foundation, there are some intangible qualities that give Shanghai a rare advantage in leading the global industrial track.
Cao Wei, a partner at BlueRun Ventures, feels that despite recent discussions about Shenzhen's manufacturing industry surpassing Shanghai, Shanghai still has clear advantages in the large innovation environment, the sense of mission among enterprises, and the global landscape.
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At the 2026 China Home Appliances and Consumer Electronics Expo, visitors experience smart glasses products. Image source: Xinhua News Agency
Just as Shanghai was infused with international coordinates from its inception, &#34;facing the world&#34; has also been written into the DNA of Shanghai enterprises.
As Yan Junjie emphasized in his sharing, he set a goal at the beginning of his entrepreneurship: &#34;We must build a global company&#34;; he also believes that &#34;Shanghai should be the city most suitable for the development of global companies in the country.&#34;
Shanghai has also declared its intention to cultivate &#34;world-class enterprises.&#34; As AI once again levels the &#34;time difference&#34; in the global technology industry, such an international perspective becomes particularly important.
Conversely, an increasing number of global high-end elements are also converging towards Shanghai. At the aforementioned AI terminal investment and financing summit, a delegation from Silicon Valley specifically came to &#34;find resources&#34;; meanwhile, at the adjacent AWE, 15 technology companies from Silicon Valley and around the world made their debut at a domestic exhibition in a scaled exhibition group format. Some media described that in the past, it was more common for Chinese companies to exhibit in the U.S. and seek funding in Silicon Valley, while American entrepreneurs collectively &#34;reverse&#34; traveled to China, which is still rare.
Continuously upgrading to an innovation &#34;magnet,&#34; Shanghai can effectively provide the necessary space and supportive environment for these high-end elements to land.
A consensus within the tech innovation circle is that Silicon Valley's rise is inseparable from the multicultural friendly environment created by global talent, forming a circle capable of attracting global innovative talent.
In response to several entrepreneurs' questions about how to tap into global talent, He Miao, Deputy General Manager of Shanghai Guotou Xian Dao, mentioned a solution provided by the conference venue, the Shanghai Oriental Hub International Business Cooperation Zone: overseas talents can attend the conference without needing to apply for a visa.
According to a relevant person in charge of the Shanghai Oriental Hub International Business Cooperation Zone Management Bureau, the cooperation zone is a new type of special open area approved by the State Council, known as the &#34;world's first, domestically unique&#34; zero-time-difference international business zone.
Unlike other &#34;domestic and foreign&#34; regulatory zones mainly targeting goods, the cooperation zone has taken the lead in expanding the &#34;first-line release&#34; system to natural persons, allowing foreign personnel to enter the zone without a visa with an invitation registration certificate, and they can also quickly handle &#34;port visas&#34; for entry and exit within the zone.
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Openness is also reflected in the details. Domestic participants can enter the &#34;domestic outside&#34; area simply by scanning a code, and even in the face of the &#34;stress test&#34; of two major events being held simultaneously, the cooperation zone remains calm.
From the perspective of personnel, a broader range of institutional openness will further unfold.
Previously, Yu Ling, the partner in charge of economic consulting services at Ernst &amp; Young (China) Advisory Limited, pointed out in an interview that the synergy effect brought by talent mobility will manifest in multiple fields, especially in facilitating the flow of production factors such as technology, capital, and data.
Behind this is not only another upgrade after Pudong was assigned the task of &#34;leading area&#34; construction but also allows Shanghai to further test systems and dive deeper, exploring ways to lead nationally and even globally, making the &#34;reverse&#34; influx of international resources likely to become the norm.
03
Towards &#34;Global First&#34;
Since last year, with GDP surpassing the 5 trillion yuan threshold, discussions about Shanghai's sprint to become &#34;the world's largest city&#34; have begun to ferment.
From the information conveyed at this conference, Shanghai is continuously accumulating the foundation to impact the pinnacle; and compared to the size of the total economy, the competition among more detailed indicators is becoming increasingly critical.
For example, when promoting Shanghai globally, several indicators are particularly &#34;highlighted&#34;: in terms of cargo &#34;connectivity,&#34; Shanghai Port ranks first in the world for container throughput, and Shanghai is also the largest cargo trade port city globally; in terms of people's &#34;perception,&#34; Shanghai has the highest number of cafes in the world; and in terms of service levels for enterprises, in the World Bank's 2025 China Enterprise Survey Report, among the 59 evaluation points related to the business environment, Shanghai has 22 items reaching the best level globally.
In a sense, in the resource network centered on global cities, the fields where Shanghai takes the lead are all related to &#34;flow.&#34; Shanghai's &#34;primacy&#34; is not only reflected in being large and strong but also in its ability and level to integrate into global industrial chains, innovation chains, and value chains, as well as the level and capacity to efficiently allocate global resources.
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Zhangjiang Science City, Pudong New District, Shanghai. Image source: Xinhua News Agency
In the face of the trend of industrial upgrading and the opportunities for upgrading openness, Shanghai also intends to further optimize its coordinates in the global urban system.
Regarding openness, relevant officials in Shanghai mentioned that they will vigorously promote pioneering reforms and leading openness in all aspects, guided by the implementation of major national strategic tasks, with the aim of forming a policy service system with international competitiveness.
In terms of industrial development, Shanghai's &#34;approach&#34; is also noticeably more focused.
Looking back at the previous two years of the Global Investment Promotion Conference, Shanghai first released the future industrial framework, then presented spatial carriers and injected financial vitality. This year, Shanghai further announced 31 &#34;new quality factors,&#34; namely 11 public service platforms, 10 specialized pilot platforms, and 10 benchmark application scenarios, with the intention being clear: to promote industrial innovation with more granular policies and efficiently match the best resources to various key industries
One example is that Shanghai has established the largest computing power scheduling platform in the country for the AI sector, allocating 1 billion yuan in computing power vouchers each year to solve the problems of large enterprises struggling to find computing power and small and medium-sized enterprises facing high computing costs. At the same time, it is building the country's first corpus operation platform to provide high-quality corpora urgently needed by model companies.
In the eyes of enterprises, Shanghai's &#34;connectivity&#34; is also exerting effects at another level.
At the conference, Fei Mingyuan, President and CEO of Zeiss Greater China, pointed out that Zeiss has currently formed a development pattern of &#34;two centers and two highlands&#34; in China, with a highland for high-end equipment located in the Yangtze River Delta. In addition to the comprehensive headquarters park for Greater China being constructed in Shanghai, there are also relevant layouts in Suzhou.
This kind of industrial synergy is expected to further expand. Just recently, the draft of the &#34;Shanghai Metropolitan Area Land Space Planning (2025-2035)&#34; was publicly announced. Of particular interest is that the scope of the &#34;Greater Shanghai Metropolitan Area&#34; has been further &#34;expanded,&#34; extending its reach to places such as Hangzhou, Yancheng, Taizhou, Shaoxing, and Xuancheng.
In many fields, Shenzhen remains an unavoidable comparison &#34;object,&#34; but Shanghai has its own mission. As many experts analyze, the key lies in how Shanghai can tap into the core functional potential of the &#34;five centers.&#34;
Maintaining focus and doing its own thing is the core reason why Shanghai is Shanghai.
Text | Yang Qifei
* Cover image source: Xinhua News Agency * Urban Evolution Theory original production, unauthorized copying and reproduction is prohibited, otherwise legal responsibility will be pursued

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Shanghai announced at the Global Investment Promotion Conference that its GDP has entered the top five in the world and plans to move towards becoming a "socialist modern international metropolis with global influence." Recently, Shanghai hosted the 2026 China Home Appliances and Consumer Electronics Expo and the Global Investment Promotion Conference, attracting numerous enterprises to participate, especially in the AI field. This event marks Shanghai's important position in the global economy and showcases its determination for openness and innovative development

- This weekend, Shanghai hosted the 2026 China Home Appliances and Consumer Electronics Expo, marking a pivotal moment in the AI-driven home technology market.  
- Following this, the 2026 Shanghai Global Investment Promotion Conference emphasized Shanghai's ambition to reposition itself as a global industry leader, showcasing its GDP ranking within the top five globally.  
- The city's strategic initiatives aim to facilitate innovation and capitalize on emergent AI technologies, reinforcing its status as a vital hub for international business and talent.

GDP ranks among the top five in the world, "Economic Capital" goal upgraded