Shanghai Accelerates AI Integration into Manufacturing Sector
– Shanghai is significantly accelerating its efforts to integrate artificial intelligence (AI) into its manufacturing sector, aiming to build a more resilient and secure industrial chain. The move, announced on Thursday, marks a substantial step in the city’s ambition to become a leader in AI-driven manufacturing.
City-level industrial AI pioneers, innovative applications, and joint laboratories were unveiled as part of this initiative, signaling a commitment to transforming traditional manufacturing processes. Industry officials, speaking at a conference hosted by the Shanghai Commission of Economy and Informatization and the Shanghai Industrial Internet Association, emphasized the potential of AI to revolutionize industrial upgrading.
Key technologies driving this transformation include AI agents, specialized industrial corpora, and advanced robotics. These advancements are expected to impact critical high-end sectors such as aerospace, automotive manufacturing, and semiconductor fabrication. The city is focusing on leveraging “AI+Manufacturing” across the entire industrial lifecycle, from research and development (R&D) design to production manufacturing and supply chain management.
Zhang Ying, deputy secretary-general of Shanghai, stated the city’s strategy involves collaboration with professional service providers and upstream/downstream enterprises to cultivate a robust new ecosystem. This collaborative approach is seen as crucial for fostering innovation and ensuring the successful implementation of AI technologies.
Since 2022, Shanghai has been actively building a foundation for this integration, cultivating 42 industrial chain “leaders” across key sectors – automotive, high-end equipment, and aerospace. These leaders have connected over 360,000 enterprises, linked more than 2.3 million industrial equipment units, and developed over 1,800 industrial software solutions. These efforts have already yielded tangible benefits, reportedly reducing enterprises’ operational and maintenance costs by 20 percent and decreasing equipment energy consumption by 10 percent.
The push for AI integration aligns with national strategies for AI to advance new industrialization. A comprehensive implementation plan introduced by Shanghai aims to rapidly advance the intelligentization of the city’s manufacturing sector and generate a batch of innovative achievements. The plan sets ambitious targets, including enabling 3,000 enterprises to adopt AI technologies, creating 10 benchmark industry models, and promoting 100 demonstration application scenarios over the next three years.
The city also plans to construct approximately 10 AI-enabled manufacturing demonstration factories and develop competitive service providers to support the growing ecosystem. Technological development will focus on enhancing industrial models through innovations in multimodal algorithms, improving AI’s understanding of physical laws, and bolstering decision-making capabilities.
Recognizing the importance of data, Shanghai’s plan prioritizes industrial data governance, including the creation of standardized tools and systems for managing both structured and unstructured data. The development of synthetic data technologies to assist in model training for complex industrial scenarios is also underway.
Shanghai’s broader five-year industrial strategy, outlined in proposals released on , places advanced manufacturing, semiconductors, and AI at the center of its growth plans for 2026-2030. This strategy, framed around a “2+3+6+6” framework, aims to modernize legacy industries while investing in new growth areas. The framework combines digitalization and decarbonization with three leading technology sectors, six upgraded industrial pillars, and six future industries.
Officials note that Shanghai’s traditional industries, including chemicals, steel, and light manufacturing, are under pressure to adapt to rising costs, tighter environmental rules, and shifting global supply chains. Data indicates that these sectors recorded a revenue profit margin of 6.2% in 2024, exceeding the national manufacturing average by 0.8 percentage points. Nearly 30% of companies in these sectors have expanded into higher-growth, technology-driven businesses, with such products now accounting for approximately half of their output in segments like metals and chemicals.
To further support innovation, Shanghai plans to establish an AI Youth Entrepreneurship Fund, providing resources for startups and entrepreneurs focused on developing AI-driven manufacturing solutions. This initiative underscores the city’s commitment to fostering a vibrant and dynamic AI ecosystem.
