The municipal government has released its long-anticipated “15th Five-Year Plan for Strategic Emerging Industries,” targeting 2.1 trillion yuan in value-added output and signaling its ambition to become a globally dominant innovation hub by the end of the decade.

Key Targets at a Glance

• ¥2.1 trillion ($290 billion) in value-added output from strategic emerging sectors by 2030.
• Strategic emerging industries to exceed 50% of Shanghai’s total industrial output (above-scale enterprises).
• Three leading industries’ manufacturing output to grow >10% annually through 2030.
• Hierarchical architecture: 3 leading industries · 12 pillar sub-sectors · 10 frontier tracks · 8 new service models.

Shanghai’s municipal government on Wednesday released its long-anticipated “15th Five-Year Plan for Strategic Emerging Industries,” a sweeping policy document that sets a target of 2.1 trillion yuan (approximately $290 billion) in value-added output from strategic emerging sectors by 2030. The plan, issued by the General Office of the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government, establishes a hierarchical industrial architecture built around three “leading industries” — integrated circuits, biomedicine, and artificial intelligence — supported by 12 emerging pillar sub-sectors, 10 frontier technology tracks, and eight new service business models.

Under the targets outlined in the document, strategic emerging industries are expected to account for more than 50 percent of Shanghai’s total industrial output from enterprises above a designated scale. Manufacturing output from the three leading industries is projected to grow at an average annual rate exceeding 10 percent through the end of the decade.

“A hierarchical industrial architecture built around three leading industries, 12 pillar sub-sectors, 10 frontier tracks, and eight new service models.”

Semiconductors: From Design to Advanced Packaging

The plan places integrated circuits at the apex of its industrial priority list. Key focus areas include the acceleration of high-end chip research and commercialization, the deployment of AI-powered electronic design automation tools to reshape design workflows and speed up simulation, and the push toward advanced packaging technologies at scale.

Notably, the document calls for research into novel device architectures, including two-dimensional material-based components and three-dimensional stacked chip designs — an indication that Shanghai is positioning itself at the frontier of post-Moore’s Law semiconductor innovation.

AI: Building a Full-Stack Ecosystem

In artificial intelligence, the plan articulates a “chip–model–cloud” ecosystem strategy. Priorities include the continued iteration of large language models with ultra-long context windows and native multimodal capabilities, the development of autonomous general-purpose AI agents, and the construction of AI-for-Science platforms capable of accelerating discovery across life sciences, materials science, and physics.

The document also highlights embodied intelligence — robotics integrated with advanced AI — calling for breakthroughs in long-horizon planning, dexterous manipulation, and physics-aware world models. A separate push targets intelligent computing infrastructure, including optical-electronic hybrid communications, compute-in-memory optimization, and token-based cloud AI service architectures.

Biomedicine: AI-Driven Drug Discovery and Global-Standard Healthcare

The biopharmaceutical section of the plan emphasizes the cultivation of innovative drugs with significant intellectual property value. It calls for AI-assisted prediction of clinical trial success rates and the use of high-quality medical and clinical research cohort data to accelerate drug development.

Specific areas of focus include multi-functional antibodies, universal cell therapies, and protein-targeted degradation therapies. On the medical devices front, the plan supports the development of miniaturized proton therapy systems and flexible surgical robots.

In a notable nod to internationalization, the document pledges to improve the convenience of international medical insurance settlement and healthcare access for foreign patients — a move likely aimed at attracting global pharmaceutical talent and multinational clinical operations.

Frontier Bets: Fusion, Quantum, Brain-Computer Interfaces

Perhaps the most forward-looking section of the plan dedicates attention to 10 frontier technology directions, several of which represent long-horizon bets:

• Nuclear fusion: The plan endorses the compact tokamak route as the primary pathway while also exploring laser fusion, stellarator, and field-reversed configuration approaches. It calls for the development of fusion-specific AI large models for intelligent diagnostics, simulation, and control.
• Quantum technology: Shanghai aims to build a self-reliant quantum computing ecosystem spanning hardware, software, and applications, with an emphasis on quantum-AI convergence.
• Brain-computer interfaces: The plan covers invasive, semi-invasive, and non-invasive BCI technologies, with a focus on flexible neural electrodes and dedicated BCI chips. It also calls for the establishment of ethical standards and industry norms.
• Sixth-generation mobile communications (6G): Research priorities include integrated sensing-computing-intelligence networks, agent-based communications, and space-air-ground-sea integrated architectures.

Other frontier areas include photonic computing, fourth-generation semiconductors (gallium oxide, diamond, aluminum nitride), synthetic biology, cell and gene therapy, and green fuels such as green hydrogen, ammonia, and methanol.

Commercial Space and the Low-Altitude Economy

The plan devotes significant attention to commercial aerospace, calling for the accelerated deployment of the “Qianfan Constellation” low-orbit satellite internet network and the development of next-generation large-diameter, high-thrust reusable rockets. It also envisions a digital satellite factory for mass production and the construction of a full-chain insurance system covering rocket launches, on-orbit operations, and third-party liability.

In the low-altitude economy space — a sector that has attracted intense investor interest across China — Shanghai plans to develop heavy-lift, long-endurance vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, advance composite-wing and tilt-rotor configurations, and build out low-altitude intelligent network infrastructure. The document takes a measured tone on passenger-carrying low-altitude transport, describing it as a sector to be developed “steadily and prudently.”

New Energy Vehicles, Robotics, and Shipbuilding

The plan designates intelligent connected new energy vehicles as a key pillar, with priorities including the construction of high-level autonomous driving demonstration zones, the mass deployment of self-driving heavy trucks and robotaxis, and the commercialization of semi-solid and solid-state batteries.

In robotics, Shanghai aims to develop general-purpose intelligent robots for both industrial and consumer applications, with emphasis on high-precision multimodal sensors, dexterous robotic hands, and end-to-end large model integration.

The shipbuilding and marine engineering section targets ultra-large LNG carriers, ethane transport vessels, and cruise ship assembly, alongside nuclear-powered and hydrogen fuel cell-powered vessels. The plan also calls for breakthroughs in high-level autonomous navigation for intelligent ships.

Spatial Layout: From Zhangjiang to the Yangtze Delta

The document outlines a detailed geographic strategy for industrial clustering. The Zhangjiang Comprehensive National Science Center will serve as the primary innovation source, hosting major scientific facilities including a hard X-ray free electron laser and a drug target research facility. A pilot comprehensive bonded zone for sci-tech innovation is also planned for Zhangjiang.

The Lingang Special Area will focus on hard-tech manufacturing — integrated circuits, civil aviation, and intelligent vehicles — while also hosting an international data economy industrial park. The plan also designates specific roles for districts along the Huangpu River, Suzhou Creek, and the outer ring, assigning each a specialized industrial niche.

At the regional level, the plan calls for deeper integration with Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Anhui provinces under the Yangtze River Delta strategy, including the joint construction of cross-provincial high-tech zones and collaborative breakthroughs in frontier technologies.

Talent, Capital, and Land

On the resource front, the plan proposes attracting “global high-caliber enterprises and high-level R&D institutions” as a mechanism for drawing frontier innovation talent to Shanghai. It also pledges precise domestic and overseas talent recruitment policies and encourages the formation of one-person companies (OPCs) specializing in niche segments.

For financing, the plan leverages the Yangtze River Delta Venture Capital Guidance Fund and three leading-industry mother funds to attract high-quality fund management teams to the city. It also promises IPO guidance and technology credit services for qualified sci-tech enterprises.

Land-use reforms include flexible supply models such as mixed-use industrial land, long-term leasing, lease-then-transfer arrangements, and equity-based land contributions. Underutilized state-owned factory buildings will be converted into innovation and entrepreneurship spaces.

Implementation and Oversight

The plan assigns coordination responsibility to the Shanghai Municipal Strategic Emerging Industries Leading Group, with the Municipal Development and Reform Commission serving as the secretariat. The document emphasizes cross-departmental collaboration, milestone-based project management, and the adoption of competitive “horse-racing” mechanisms for major R&D initiatives.

A pilot “grant-to-investment” model — converting government grants into equity stakes — is also proposed as a way to align public funding with commercial outcomes.

For investors, the plan represents one of the most detailed sub-national industrial policy frameworks released in China this year.

For investors, the plan represents one of the most detailed sub-national industrial policy frameworks released in China this year, offering granular visibility into where Shanghai intends to direct capital, talent, and regulatory support over the next five years.