Shanghai aims to raise US$15 billion in funds to gain an upper hand in AI development
The city government is looking at how to draw investors to raise capital and talent to manage the funds in the quest to become a tech hub
Shanghai plans to set up investment funds worth at least a total of 100 billion yuan (US$15.1 billion) over the next two or three years to bolster the development of businesses related to artificial intelligence technologies.
Chen Mingbo, head of the Shanghai Commission of Economy and Information Technology, told a press conference on Wednesday that the municipal government is looking at how to attract more public investors to raise capital for the funds, and high-calibre asset managers to run them.
“The size of 100 billion yuan of funds may not be enough (to support the growth of AI technologies),” he said. “The key lies in whether we can successfully mobilise all public resources to collectively develop AI-related businesses.”
Shanghai has been striving to regain its status as a major locomotive of the Chinese economy by spurring the growth in the finance and information technology sectors.
City leaders have envisioned the creation of Shanghai’s own internet behemoths on par with the so-called BAT firms – Baidu, Alibaba Group Holding – which owns the South China Morning Post – and Tencent Holdings.
Artificial intelligence, used in a wide range of areas such as autonomous driving, finance, medical and public security, is viewed by Shanghai officials as a key technology to accelerate the city’s transformation into a global innovation hub.