Shanghai solidified its position as a prime destination for foreign investment, with more than 6,300 new foreign-invested enterprises (FIEs) established in the city last year, an increase of 6.8%, according to Shen Weihua, Director of the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce. Contracted foreign investment in Shanghai reached USD18 billion in 2025, representing growth of nearly 20%. “Such figures demonstrate Shanghai’s enduring appeal as a preferred location for foreign investors and a strategic hub for multinational companies’ global industrial and supply chains, even amid current global challenges,” Shen said. He described the city’s utilization of foreign capital as stable in scale, superior in quality and dynamic in momentum. During the 14th Five Year Plan period (2021-25), the actual use of foreign capital in Shanghai’s high-tech industries reached 33%, a 10-percentage-point increase from the previous five-year period. By the end of last year, Shanghai also had 1,076 regional headquarters and 636 foreign-funded R&D centers, according to the Commission.
Shanghai will continue to expand high-level opening-up by aligning with international high-standard economic and trade rules, steadily expanding institutional openness, deepening the national pilot program for opening-up the service sector, and advancing projects in key pilot areas such as telecommunications, healthcare, education and finance, Shen said. The city will also guide foreign enterprises to invest more in advanced manufacturing, modern services, high-tech industries, and energy-saving and environmental protection. This year, the city aims to maintain double-digit growth in the output value of leading manufacturing industries. By 2030, Shanghai plans to establish 500 advanced smart factories, raise the density of industrial robot use to 600 units per 10,000 people, and create 200 or more green manufacturing enterprises at the city level or above. Luo Dajin, Director of the Shanghai Science and Technology Commission, said the city is focusing on frontier fields such as brain-computer interfaces, quantum computing, cell and gene therapy, 6G and controlled nuclear fusion.
Shanghai’s foreign trade exceeded CNY4.5 trillion last year. Growth rates for imports, exports and total trade surpassed national averages by 1.8, 4.7 and 1.3 percentage points, respectively. Meanwhile, Shanghai’s service trade continued to grow steadily, accounting for about one-fourth of the national total and ranking first among Chinese cities, the China Daily reports.
