Shanghai Sets Advanced Manufacturing at Core of 15th Five-Year Plan

Shanghai unveiled its "15th Five-Year Plan," which aims to build a modern industrial system centered on advanced manufacturing.

The systematic layout encompasses the digital and green transformation of traditional industries, as well as the acceleration of the city's three strategic sectors: semiconductors, biopharma, and AI.

The plan also prioritizes six emerging pillar industry clusters: next-generation electronic information, intelligent connected new energy vehicles, high-end equipment, advanced materials, new energy and green low-carbon, and fashion consumer products. It has also spelled out plans for future industries: information, material, energy, space, and healthcare.

Official data shows Shanghai's traditional industries' revenue profit margin at 6.2 percent in 2024, 0.8 percent above the national average. About 30 percent of the city's traditional industries are strategically emerging, and 70 percent are tech-intensive.

The guidelines recommend that the semiconductor industry improve equipment, manufacturing, and design capacity, as well as industrial chain breakthroughs and growth.

The biopharma industry must improve research and development of new drugs and medical equipment, speed up lab-to-application, improve clinical research efficiency, and promote diverse payment methods.

In the artificial intelligence industry, the guidelines encourage full-stack innovation, which integrates AI across all layers of tech development; collaborative development of high-performance intelligent computing chips, high-quality data, and efficient intelligent computing clusters; iteration and upgrading of foundational large models; and embodied intelligence technology maturation.

In the first three quarters of 2025, the 394 Shanghai artificial intelligence firms earned a total of 435.5 billion yuan, up nearly 40 percent from the previous year. The full-year revenue is expected to go beyond 550 billion yuan, up by over 30 percent.