"Shanghai, as the forefront of China's reform and opening up and an international metropolis that is deeply connected to the world, is taking the construction of the 'Five Centers' as a guide and making every effort to create a new highland for high-level opening up. The vast number of compatriots from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, as well as overseas Chinese at home and abroad, are a unique and valuable resource for the improvement of Shanghai's urban energy level, an important bridge link between China and the world, and an indispensable advantage in promoting high-quality development and expanding high-level opening up."
Recently, during the 2026 Shanghai Global Investment Promotion Conference and "Invest in Shanghai" event week, the "Gathering in Shanghai to Create the Future" cooperation and exchange meeting between Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and overseas Chinese enterprises and Shanghai enterprises was successfully held. Wang Xiaohan, vice president of the Shanghai Overseas Friendship Association and director of the Municipal Overseas Chinese Affairs Office, made the above statement in his speech.
"Shanghai has new changes and new surprises every day, and is full of vitality and profound vitality." Pu Yapeng, deputy director of the Shanghai Municipal Economic and Information Commission, introduced at the exchange meeting that Shanghai's GDP will exceed 5.6 trillion yuan in 2025, ranking first among Chinese cities and fifth in the world. As China's largest economic center city, Shanghai has outstanding advantages in opening up to the outside world. From the development and opening of Pudong, to the Shanghai Free Trade Zone, Lingang New Area, Hongqiao International Open Hub, and then to the Oriental Hub International Business Cooperation Zone, Shanghai has always been at the forefront of China's reform and opening up, and has continued to deepen reform and continuously expand new market space.
From government-level policy empowerment and resource aggregation to a complete and mature industrial ecology and a world-class business environment, Shanghai is leveraging its multiple unique advantages to continue to attract compatriots from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan to invest, develop, and share opportunities.
Empower
Currently, Shanghai has achieved multiple breakthroughs in its opening-up measures. Pu Yapeng introduced that Shanghai has completely abolished foreign investment access restrictions in the manufacturing sector, effectively breaking through the barriers for foreign-invested enterprises to carry out value-added telecommunications, cell and gene therapy and other businesses, and successfully opening up new business channels such as bonded remanufacturing and bonded maintenance, creating a more open and convenient development environment for various market entities. As a new highland for global resource allocation, Shanghai's total foreign trade volume exceeds 1.6 trillion US dollars, ranking first in the world's ports, and its container throughput ranks first in the world for 16 consecutive years, providing solid support for enterprises to participate in global trade.
Overlooking the Shanghai Yangshan Port Phase IV unmanned terminal from the control tower. Xinhua News Agency data map
At the same time, Shanghai is also the first choice for multinational companies to invest. Pu Yapeng introduced that the cumulative actual use of foreign capital in Shanghai exceeds 380 billion US dollars, accounting for one-tenth of the country's total. It has gathered more than 1,000 regional headquarters of multinational companies, 600 foreign-funded R&D centers, and more than 80,000 foreign-funded enterprises are flourishing in Shanghai, forming a good ecology of high concentration and coordinated development of foreign-funded enterprises.
"Shanghai is also a city of science and technology that is full of innovation and vitality, with significant advantages in scientific and technological innovation, and the gathering of innovative entities is accelerating." Pu Yapeng said that the R&D investment intensity of Shanghai's entire society has reached 4.5%, ranking fifth in the world's "Best Science and Technology Clusters" for two consecutive years. In key areas such as life sciences, energy technology, ocean engineering, artificial intelligence, and photonic science, Shanghai has laid out and built a number of national important tools and major scientific and technological infrastructure to provide strong ecological support for scientific and technological innovation and industrial innovation.
Facing the future, Shanghai will continue to safeguard the development of enterprises from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan with its long-term policy planning and institutional innovation. At the exchange meeting, Hong Leong Galaxy Co., Ltd. of Singapore injected RMB 500 million into the Shanghai Science and Technology Innovation Center Equity Investment Fund to support technology research and development and industrial implementation of Shanghai science and technology innovation enterprises. This capital injection has set a precedent for foreign investors to set up QFLP funds in their own names to participate in the construction of Shanghai Science and Technology Innovation Center, and has become a landmark case of foreign investment in Shanghai's science and technology innovation field.
As the first QFLP fund pilot city in the country, Shanghai has formed a mature policy system and efficient approval process. Yang Bin, President of Shanghai Science and Technology Innovation Fund, introduced at the scene that the cooperation between Shanghai Science and Technology Innovation Fund and Hong Leong Galaxy of Singapore only took 76 days from the determination of intention to the fund registration, and the approval process only took 12 working days, making it a demonstration sample for overseas capital to conveniently participate in Shanghai Science and Technology Innovation investment.
"China's science and technology innovation is shifting from model innovation to hard technology innovation. Investing in Shanghai's science and technology innovation is investing in the forefront of China's innovation." Yang Bin, president of Shanghai Science and Technology Innovation Fund, said that Shanghai ranks at the forefront of the country in terms of policy maturity, efficiency of the approval process, and facilitation of cross-border capital flows, providing the best institutional guarantee for foreign capital to participate in science and technology innovation investment. At the same time, Shanghai gathers top scientific research institutes and high-end talents, has a complete industrial chain and rich application scenarios, and is a high-quality soil for the transformation of scientific and technological achievements and the development and growth of enterprises.
Deep cultivation
With policy empowerment and ecological support, many Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwanese enterprises have been deeply involved in Shanghai for many years, resonating and growing together with the city. They have become participants and promoters of Shanghai's high-quality development, and have also achieved leapfrog development in global layout with Shanghai's all-round empowerment.
Xie Chengrun, CEO of China National Biopharmaceuticals and Chairman of Chia Tai Tianqing Pharmaceutical Group, shared at the meeting that as a global investment partner of Shanghai and a world-class biopharmaceutical industry cluster partner, China Biopharmaceuticals has invested 1.8 billion yuan to build a global R&D headquarters in the Minhang South Hongqiao section of Shanghai, which will be officially opened in June 2026. At the same time, the Pudong Pharmaceuticals headquarters is also under planning and construction, forming a "dual-zone synergy" development pattern.
"Shanghai's biopharmaceutical full-chain innovation policies, innovative drug green channels, and top medical research resources have strengthened companies' determination to deploy in Shanghai." Xie Chengrun said that Shanghai is an important gathering place for international innovation resources and high-end talents, and is also the core base for China's biopharmaceuticals to promote innovative research and development and achieve industrial upgrading.
In terms of industrial ecological construction, Shanghai is accelerating the construction of a "2+3+6+6" modern industrial system with advanced manufacturing as the core, including accelerating the development of the three leading industries of integrated circuits, biomedicine, and artificial intelligence.
Pu Yapeng introduced at the exchange meeting that the scale of Shanghai's biopharmaceutical industry exceeds 140 billion US dollars, the manufacturing output value exceeds 29 billion US dollars, and there are more than 2,000 regulated biopharmaceutical companies. Eighteen of the top 20 global pharmaceutical companies and 19 of the top 20 global medical device companies have their Chinese regional R&D or production headquarters in Shanghai, leading the world in industrial agglomeration.
Looking forward to the future layout in Shanghai, Xie Chengrun said that in 2024, the company's first innovative drug, Gsolexed Tablets, will be approved for marketing in Shanghai; in 2026, 13 blockbuster innovative drugs at different stages will be transferred to Shanghai for research and development. Relying on Shanghai's open platform advantages, the company has reached in-depth cooperation with international pharmaceutical companies such as Boehringer Ingelheim, Merck, and Sanofi. In 2026, relevant products will be launched and commercially cooperated in more than 50 international markets, moving towards a new level of global development.
Shanghai has also become an important automobile production base in China and even the world. Pu Yapeng said that the city has 9 complete vehicle companies and more than 600 core component companies. It is the city with the highest output of new energy vehicles and the most complete industrial chain in China. The Toyota Lexus pure electric vehicle project has landed in Shanghai, which fully demonstrates the high recognition of foreign-funded enterprises in Shanghai's automobile industry ecology.
Pu Yapeng took Tesla's Shanghai Gigafactory as an example. The project has achieved the Shanghai speed of "starting construction, completing construction, putting into production, and delivering within the same year." The local supply rate of parts within a 4-hour drive around the factory exceeds 95%. The highly collaborative and highly concentrated industrial ecology has the world's top competitiveness. Behind this is the strong support of Shanghai's efficient and pragmatic government services and first-class business environment.
Tesla Shanghai Gigafactory. Visual China data map
In terms of optimizing the business environment, Shanghai has implemented more than 1,200 reform measures since 2018. Key enterprise services have covered more than 30,000 companies, and a total of 26,000 companies have been helped to solve various development needs, effectively allowing companies to operate with peace of mind and develop steadily in Shanghai.
Taiwan-funded enterprise USI also regards Shanghai as the core fulcrum of global development. Chen Changyi, director of ASE Investment Holdings and chairman of USI Electronics, introduced that USI Electronics was established in 2003 and is headquartered in Pudong, Shanghai. The company's global revenue will reach 60 billion yuan in 2025, nearly half of which will come from Shanghai. Currently, the company's flagship manufacturing base in Zhangjiang is making every effort to promote the construction of smart factories and continue to set new standards for smart manufacturing efficiency.
"The key to Shanghai becoming the core of the company's global layout lies in its complete industrial chain system, highly concentrated R&D talents, and stable and predictable business environment." Chen Changyi said that the industrial collaborative ecology formed between Shanghai and the Yangtze River Delta region provides full-chain support for high-end manufacturing; the company's R&D team of nearly a thousand engineers in Shanghai has become the core force of technological innovation; and the long-term and stable policy environment allows companies to continue to increase investment in R&D.
Talent is the core driving force for innovation and development, and Shanghai is continuing to provide a steady stream of key talents and platforms for the growth of cutting-edge industries. According to Pu Yapeng, currently, Shanghai’s higher education population is close to 10 million, more than 300,000 talents who have returned from overseas studies have started their own business and developed in Shanghai, and there are more than 180 academicians in the two academies of science and technology in Shanghai. 70% of the country’s civil aviation talents, 50% of 5G talents, 40% of integrated circuit talents and 33% of artificial intelligence talents are gathered in Shanghai. 69 universities and 120 national-level R&D institutions form a strong innovation matrix.
Chen Changyi also pointed out that the high-end manufacturing industry has the characteristics of high investment and long cycle, and relies more on long-term and stable manufacturing environment and institutional guarantees. The steady growth of enterprises in the city will also drive the upgrading of the entire industrial chain. If the leading enterprises are stable, the supply chain will be stable. "Our investment in Shanghai is not just an investment in a market, but also an investment in a future-oriented manufacturing standard."
As a Taiwanese businessman who has lived in Shanghai for 26 years, Chen Changyi said frankly that Shanghai's urban order, administrative efficiency, and mature and complete education and medical facilities have given enterprises and individuals a deep trust in this city. Enterprises not only deploy their core capabilities in Shanghai, but also make Shanghai their "home".
At the new starting point of the "15th Five-Year Plan", opening up on both sides of the Pujiang River is booming. The global capital, advanced technology and international vision brought by enterprises from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan have injected continuous vitality into Shanghai's high-quality development. With its open and inclusive urban spirit, pragmatic and efficient government services, and complete and mature industrial system, Shanghai continues to become the preferred place for investment and business development by enterprises from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan.
