Shanghai wants to lead world in semiconductors, AI and electric cars, but plan to boost economy is light on detail

Companies are taking a wait-and-see approach to Shanghai’s plan to supercharge strategic emerging industries, which does not have a budget attached to it

Plans for company perks look similar to those in other cities, but Shanghai remains a national leader in target industries

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The government of Shanghai, China’s largest city, is pushing to become a leader in next-generation technologies like semiconductors, AI and electric cars, but companies first want to know how much money is on the table. Photo: Xinhua

Coco Fengin Beijing,Daniel Renin ShanghaiandHe Huifengin Guangdong

Published: 8:00am, 25 Jul 2021Updated: 9:22pm, 25 Jul 2021

Shanghai is looking to take a greater role in China’s drive towards technological self-sufficiency, but a new plan unveiled last Wednesday to spur development of emerging industries has scant details, leaving companies waiting to see how serious the city is about its hi-tech ambitions.

Coming just one week after the central government’s unprecedented devolution of authority to the government of China’s largest city by population and GDP, Shanghai’s latest plan outlines a vision to lead the country in strategic emerging industries such as semiconductors, artificial intelligence (AI), electric vehicles (EVs) and advanced manufacturing.

“The city’s initiatives are digitalising and installing the future tools of industry and communications,” said Cameron Johnson, an adjunct faculty instructor at New York University and partner at Shanghai-based management consultancy Tidal Wave Solutions. “This will contribute to the development of its smart cities initiatives [and] industrial integration.”

Big on vision, but light on detail, the plan is a bid to boost GDP by attracting more hi-tech companies to complement the central government’s own technological ambitions. Companies, however, are waiting to see exactly what kinds of incentives are on offer.

“What the professionals in the industry really care about is how much money the government or the state-owned enterprises can put on the table,” said Bai Lei, a salesman at a Shanghai-based chip designer. Without knowing that, few companies in the semiconductor industry are giving the plan serious attention, he added.