GDP Enters Top Five Globally, "Economic Number One City" Target Upgraded

Why does AI and the Oriental Hub’s visa-free policy attract Silicon Valley entrepreneurs?

By Yang Qifei, Daily Economic News; Edited by Liu Yanmei

This past weekend, Shanghai was bustling with activity.

First, the 2026 China Home Appliances and Consumer Electronics Expo (AWE 2026) opened on March 12, featuring numerous robots and AI elements everywhere. Not only did it bring future home living closer to reality, but it also set trends for the global stage, earning the reputation of a “Chinese version of CES.”

Following closely, on March 14, the 2026 Shanghai Global Investment Promotion Conference (hereafter “Global Investment Conference”) opened. Shanghai once again extended a “hero invitation” to the world; outside the venue, Shanghai’s breakthrough efforts were already underway—reflected not only in discussions among participating companies about industry development directions but also in their increased investments in Shanghai. The global future industry center, represented by AI, is accelerating its migration to China and Shanghai.

The commonality of these two events extends beyond AI. They are both among the first activities after the operation of the Oriental Hub International Business Cooperation Zone, with Pudong Leading Area, where the Oriental Hub is located, representing China’s highest level of opening-up and serving as an engine for attracting various innovation elements to Shanghai.

At the start of the “14th Five-Year Plan,” both events point to a shared goal: Shanghai is attempting to redefine its global position. At the Global Investment Conference, Shanghai announced that its GDP has entered the top five worldwide and aims to further develop into a “socialist modern international metropolis with global influence.”

How prepared is Shanghai for this global sprint?

Not Just “Crabbing”

Recently, “crabs” have become the hottest topic. Driven by “crab” stories, a new wave of wealth creation myths has emerged; many cities are eager to follow suit, quickly incorporating “crab” into government support policies.

This vigorous AI revolution naturally includes Shanghai. Throughout the Global Investment Conference, “crabs” repeatedly appeared. But compared to the urgency of “all in,” Shanghai shows more patience and stability, focusing on long-term, orderly industry development.

On March 12, the 2026 China Home Appliances and Consumer Electronics Expo opened in Shanghai. Photo source: Xinhua News Agency

One of the most influential companies is MiniMax. Data shows that the daily and weekly top call volumes for OpenClaw are dominated by Chinese companies, forming a “crab trio.” Among them, Shanghai Xiyu Jizhi Technology Co., Ltd.'s large model MiniMax and Shanghai Jieyue Xingchen Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd.'s large model Step are both based in Shanghai.

As a keynote speaker at the conference, MiniMax founder and CEO Yan Junjie did not focus much on “crabs” but instead recounted the company’s development over recent years. He stated that the company has continuously expanded user scenarios, becoming a driving force for growth—something made possible by Shanghai’s open innovation environment and encouragement of open-source, inclusive development.

As an AI computing engine service provider, Luo Xiaoqiu, CEO of Shanshu Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., believes that “crabs” are just “a small point.” Unlike previous industrial revolutions centered mainly in Europe and America, the current AI industry demand is in China. The “crab heat” indicates that China can leverage its industrial advantages to promote AI development, with rapid evolution across hardware, software, and applications. The key is whether the market can seize opportunities and rise with the trend.

Shanghai has already identified its direction. Throughout the conference, two keywords stood out: “ecosystem” and “terminal.”

On that day, a special investment and financing summit focused on AI terminals was held. Clear signals were released: an explosion in AI terminals is imminent. As Liu Chunjian, founder and CEO of Liu Lian Intelligent, said, unlike the past pattern where Shenzhen was strong and Shanghai weak in terminals, the new era of AI could see terminals emerging across various industries, giving Shanghai a chance to break through.

In October last year, Shanghai issued the “High-Quality Development Action Plan for the Intelligent Terminal Industry (2026–2027),” proposing that by 2027, the overall scale of the intelligent terminal industry would surpass 300 billion yuan, with three “10 million” scale products: AI computers, AI smartphones, and new AI terminals, contributing new growth to the economy.

Meanwhile, the AWE held at the same time reflected both sides of this industry development: one representing the current industry transformation, the other the future of innovation.

Ecosystem development is crucial for Shanghai to unlock terminal potential.

Wu Xucheng, Deputy General Manager of Shanghai Guotou Leading, pointed out that based on Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s “five-layer cake” theory of AI, China holds absolute advantages in the energy and application layers—the bottom and top of the cake. Several new energy material companies announced increased investment in Shanghai during the conference, improving the city’s energy supply system.

Shanshu Technology, founded in Beijing, recently established its new headquarters in Shanghai. Luo Xiaoqiu noted that Shanghai’s previous accumulation in the integrated circuit industry has created a fertile ground for AI development, which is why his company chose Shanghai.

Turning “Reverse” into “Positive”

Beyond tangible industry foundations, intangible qualities give Shanghai a rare advantage in leading global industry tracks.

Cao Wei, partner at BlueChili Ventures, feels that although there has been discussion about Shenzhen manufacturing surpassing Shanghai in recent years, Shanghai still maintains clear advantages in innovation environment, corporate mission sense, and globalization.

As Shanghai was infused with international coordinates from its inception, “global orientation” is deeply embedded in its corporate DNA.

For example, Yan Junjie emphasized that from the start, his goal was “to build a global company,” and he believes “Shanghai should be the most suitable city in China for global companies to develop.”

Shanghai also announced plans to cultivate “world-class enterprises.” As AI narrows the global technology gap, such international perspectives become even more important.

Conversely, more high-end global elements are gathering in Shanghai. At the AI terminal investment summit, a delegation from Silicon Valley was specially invited to seek resources; at the neighboring AWE, 15 tech companies from Silicon Valley and around the world appeared at the expo in a large-scale delegation for the first time. Media described this as a rare phenomenon: previously, Chinese companies went to the US or Silicon Valley to seek funding, but now American entrepreneurs are collectively “reverse” heading to China.

Shanghai’s rising status as an innovation “magnet” provides an effective platform and environment for these high-end elements to settle.

Within the innovation community, there is a consensus that Silicon Valley’s success relies on a diverse, globally friendly talent environment, forming a circle capable of attracting global innovation talent.

In response to questions from entrepreneurs about how to attract global talent, He Miao, Deputy General Manager of Shanghai Guotou Leading, mentioned that the venue of the conference and the Oriental Hub International Business Cooperation Zone have offered a solution: overseas talents can participate without a visa.

According to a relevant person from the zone’s management bureau, the zone is a newly approved, special type of open area by the State Council, called a “zero time lag” international business zone—“the world’s first and only” of its kind.

Compared to other “inside-outside” regulatory zones mainly for goods, the zone has pioneered extending “front-line” policies to natural persons. Foreign personnel can enter the zone visa-free with an invitation and registration certificate, and can quickly handle “port visas” for exit and entry within the zone.

Illustration of the Oriental Hub International Business Cooperation Zone location. Source: Shangguan News

Openings are also reflected in details. Domestic conference participants only need to scan a QR code to enter the “inside-outside” area. Even amid the simultaneous “stress test” of two major events, the zone remains confident.

Furthermore, a broader institutional opening is underway. Previously, Yu Ling, head of economic consulting at Ernst & Young (China), pointed out that the flow of talent and the resulting synergy of factors will become evident across multiple fields, especially in facilitating the smooth flow of technology, capital, and data.

Behind this is not only the further upgrading of Pudong’s “leading zone” status but also Shanghai’s ongoing exploration of innovative systems and deep water testing—aiming to lead nationwide and even globally—making the “reverse” inflow of international resources a likely norm.

Moving Toward “Global Number One”

Since last year, as Shanghai’s GDP surpassed 5 trillion yuan, discussions about it becoming the “world’s largest city” have intensified.

From the messages conveyed at this conference, Shanghai is steadily building the foundation to reach the top; however, beyond total economic size, more detailed indicators are becoming increasingly critical.

For example, in promoting Shanghai globally, several metrics stand out: Shanghai Port’s container throughput ranks first worldwide; Shanghai is the largest cargo trade port city; it has the most cafes globally; and in the World Bank’s 2025 China Business Environment Survey, 22 out of 59 evaluation points related to business environment reached the highest global standards.

In a sense, in the resource network centered on global cities, Shanghai’s leading fields are all related to “traffic” or “flow.” Its top position is not only about size and strength but also about its ability and level of integration into global industry, innovation, and value chains, as well as its capacity to efficiently allocate global resources.

Shanghai Zhangjiang Science City in Pudong. Source: Xinhua News Agency

Faced with industry upgrading and opening-up opportunities, Shanghai aims to further optimize its position within the global city system.

Regarding openness, a Shanghai official mentioned that the city will implement major national strategies through comprehensive reforms and pioneering opening-up, aiming to establish a policy service system with international competitiveness.

In industry development, Shanghai’s approach has become more focused.

Looking back at the past two Global Investment Promotion Conferences, Shanghai first announced its future industrial framework, then introduced space carriers and infused financial vitality. This year, Shanghai released 31 “new quality elements,” including 11 public service platforms, 10 specialized pilot platforms, and 10 benchmark application scenarios—aimed at promoting industry innovation with more granular policies and efficiently matching top resources to key industries.

For example, in the AI sector, Shanghai has established the largest domestic computing power scheduling platform, offering 1 billion yuan worth of computing power vouchers annually to solve the difficulties large enterprises face in accessing computing resources and the high costs for small and medium-sized enterprises; it also built the country’s first corpus operation platform to provide high-quality data urgently needed by model companies.

From the perspective of enterprises, Shanghai’s “connectivity” is also playing a role at another level.

At the conference, Zeiss Greater China President and CEO Fei Mingyuan pointed out that Zeiss has formed a “two centers, two highlands” development pattern in China—one in the Yangtze River Delta for high-end equipment, including the Zeiss Greater China headquarters complex in Shanghai and related layouts in Suzhou.

Such industrial synergy is expected to expand further. Recently, the draft of the “Shanghai Metropolitan Area Land and Space Planning (2025–2035)” was publicly released. Notably, the scope of the “Greater Shanghai Metropolitan Area” is being expanded to include Hangzhou, Yancheng, Taizhou, Shaoxing, and Xuancheng.

In multiple fields, Shenzhen remains a key comparator, but Shanghai has its own mission. Many experts believe that the key lies in how Shanghai can leverage its core functions within the “five centers” framework.

Maintaining focus and doing one’s own thing remains the core reason why Shanghai is Shanghai.

Daily Economic News