Shanghai continues high-tech march

Numerous new high-technology projects were launched in Shanghai's Pudong New Area on Wednesday, reflecting the metropolis' resolve to further advance innovation.

A total of 88 major tech projects were unveiled in Pudong during an event, with the combined investment value approaching 34.1 billion yuan ($5.1 billion).

The new projects mainly focus on the three strategic emerging sectors of artificial intelligence, biomedicine and integrated circuits.

Fintech software solution provider Shanghai Newtouch Software Co Ltd joined the event and signed cooperation agreements with the area's government on Wednesday. It announced an investment of over 600 million yuan. The company is listed on the tech-heavy STAR Market and aims to set up its headquarters in Lujiazui, Shanghai's financial hub in central Pudong.

The investment will also be used to build four major laboratories for Newtouch, covering blockchain, big data, AI and cloud computing, said Newtouch Chairman Guo Wei.

Four Fortune 500 companies signed agreements with the Pudong government to launch new high-tech projects in the area.

Schneider Electric is among the four, and will set up a new secure power innovation lab in Pudong, which will shoulder the research and development responsibilities concerning key power supply and energy storage for the Chinese market and the rest of the world for the French multinational company, said Zhu Wenqin, senior vice-president of Schneider.

Another 58 major technology projects began construction on Wednesday, with a total investment value of 52.6 billion yuan.

The global headquarters of SmartSens Technology (Shanghai) Co Ltd, a chip design company, started construction on Wednesday. With a total investment of 850 million yuan, the new project will help SmartSens to further develop high-performance CMOS image sensor chip designs, which are widely used in new energy vehicles, said Xu Chen, the company's founder and CEO.

Listed on the STAR Market late last May, SmartSens saw its sales revenue reach 1.65 billion yuan in the first three quarters of 2022.Operation of the new facilities in Pudong will enhance the company's earnings strength and boost its annual turnover to exceed 10 billion yuan, Xu said.

Hang Yingwei, government head of Pudong New Area, said the introduction of major projects is conducive to the accelerated development of industries. There are 488 more major projects in the pipeline, which are either to be introduced or to start construction in Pudong this year, with the total annual investment exceeding 160 billion yuan, Hang said.

Data provided by the local government showed that the total industrial output from Pudong-based companies with a minimum annual sales revenue of 20 million yuan each approached 1.34 trillion yuan in 2022, up 4 percent from a year earlier, taking up 33.1 percent of the city's total.

The total industrial investment realized in Pudong last year also surged 12.3 percent year-on-year to 72.3 billion yuan in 2022, accounting for 42.37 percent of the city's total.

Meanwhile, the municipal government of Shanghai released a new action plan on Sunday to further improve the city's business environment.