Shanghai Unveils Plan for Next-Generation Smart Manufacturing at CIIF 2026

At the opening ceremony of the 26th China International Industry Fair (CIIF 2026) on Monday, Shanghai revealed plans for accelerating the development of next-generation smart manufacturing.

The city will implement four major initiatives and 19 key tasks to promote the deep integration of artificial intelligence with manufacturing, accelerating the construction of a next-generation smart manufacturing framework.

As a leading hub for domestic smart manufacturing, Shanghai has cultivated two national pioneer-level and 28 national excellence-level smart factories, ranking first among Chinese cities in total factory count for consecutive years.

Driven by market demand, Shanghai's smart manufacturing system integration sector has surpassed 60 billion yuan (US$8.82 billion) in scale, while smart manufacturing equipment output exceeds 150 billion yuan, making the city China's largest industrial cluster for system integration and equipment.

To further enhance supply capabilities, drive collaborative innovation, deepen factory construction and optimize the industrial ecosystem, Shanghai outlined clear development targets: by 2028, the city aims to achieve full coverage of smart factories among key manufacturing enterprises, realize universal AI application across smart factories, nurture 500 advanced-level smart factories, and create over 2,000 AI application scenarios deeply-rooted in manufacturing.

The ceremony also featured the official release of the Shanghai Industrial Map, introducing a list of 30 100-billion-yuan industrial clusters, focusing on integrated circuits, biomedicine, smart connected new energy vehicles, software and IT services and modern logistics.

The Shanghai Next-Generation Smart Manufacturing Development Forum, a part of CIIF 2026, was also held on Monday.

Ye Meng, Deputy Director of the Equipment Industry Department at the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, revealed that as of the first half of 2026, China had built over 56,000 foundational, 9,000 advanced and 500 excellence-level smart factories nationwide. AI technologies have been integrated into more than 70 percent of operational scenarios across pioneer-level smart factories, yielding over 6,000 vertical models.

Forum data also showed that in 2025, Shanghai's total industrial output value for above-scale enterprises crossed the 4-trillion-yuan threshold, with strategic emerging industries accounting for 45 percent of the total. From January to August this year, value-added industrial output for above-scale enterprises rose 5.8 percent year-on-year, while the three leading pillar industries – integrated circuits, AI, and biomedicine – grew by 16.1 percent.

In addition, key enterprises across the region jointly launched the Yangtze River Delta Next-Generation Smart Manufacturing Collaborative Development Initiative. Representatives from seven leading companies – Baosteel, Shanghai Electric, China Mobile Shanghai, Rockwell Automation, Inovance Technology, Phoenix Contact and JAKA Robotics – presented real-world implementation cases centered on predictive manufacturing, industrial AI agents and embodied AI.