Shanghai retains foreign investment hub status

Shanghai has continued to solidify its position as a prime destination for foreign investment, with more than 6,300 new foreign-funded enterprises established in the city last year, an increase of 6.8 percent, the top official with the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce said on Saturday.

Contracted foreign investment in Shanghai reached $18 billion in 2025, representing growth of nearly 20 percent, Shen Weihua, director of the commission, said at a news conference held at the conclusion of the annual plenary sessions of the city's legislative and political advisory bodies.

"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 chain layouts, 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 percent, a 10-percentage-point increase from the previous five-year period.

As a result of the quality of foreign investment, the number of regional headquarters of multinational companies and foreign-funded research and development centers continued to rise. By the end of last year, Shanghai 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 focus on supporting the transformation and upgrading of foreign investment by guiding foreign enterprises to invest more in advanced manufacturing, modern services, high-tech industries, and energy-saving and environmental protection sectors. This will strengthen the capabilities of multinational regional headquarters and foreign R&D centers, the commission said.

According to this year's government work report, 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.

Speaking at the news conference, Luo Dajin, director of the Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality, said the city is focusing on frontier fields such as brain-computer interfaces, quantum computing, cell and gene therapy, 6G and controlled nuclear fusion to accelerate the development of future industries and bring them into practical application.

According to officials, Shanghai's foreign trade imports and exports exceeded 4.5 trillion yuan ($648.5 billion) last year, setting new records for imports, exports and total trade value.

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.

"Shanghai has effectively responded to external challenges, driven foreign trade toward higher-quality development, and demonstrated strong economic resilience and new momentum for high-quality growth," Shen said.

Looking ahead, Shanghai will continue to improve the facilitation of cross-border trade, cultivate new forms and models of foreign trade, promote high-quality development across the entire cross-border e-commerce chain, and advance innovation in service trade and digital trade, he said.