China's first economic city is breaking the "ceiling"
Every reporter: Yang Qifei Every editor: Liu Yanmei
Image source: photo.com_500556742
A new round of transformation is taking place in Shanghai.
The field of investment is particularly significant. Last year, Shanghai frequently took the initiative to attract high-profile investment, especially put down its position and went to Chengdu-Chongqing, Wuhan and other central and western cities "in reverse", so that the outside world could see Shanghai's transformation from "sitting in business to doing business in the world".
A few days ago, Shanghai held the Global Investment Promotion Conference for the fourth consecutive year, inviting the world to "increase Shanghai". Whether it is the new policies issued by Shanghai or the new trends of enterprise investment, they have released another signal: Shanghai is starting a deeper industrial transformation.
For example, based on the layout of 14 key industrial chains and 32 subdivisions in Shanghai this year, the conference released investment opportunities in 10 of the subdivisions, for large models, humanoid robots, wide bandgap semiconductors, biomanufacturing, metaverse, large aircraft, large cruise ships, commercial aerospace, new materials, hydrogen energy and other fields, Shanghai "running" into the game, quickly from the planning to the industrial development stage.
A background here is that, under the influence of multiple factors, Shanghai's manufacturing industry has entered a period of transformation and adjustment, and it is urgent to find the "second growth curve"; when the world ushers in a new "scientific spring", the development of new quality productivity, and the promotion of new industrialization, is a major opportunity for Shanghai.
Just a few days before the conference, Apple CEO Tim Cook appeared in Shanghai, not only bringing the news of "expanding and adding new labs in Shanghai and Shenzhen", but also solemnly stated: "There is no more important place for Apple's supply chain than China." ”
The pace of more enterprises "adding injections" is also a response to the questions of the outside world: at the moment of global industrial pattern changes, how can "Made in Shanghai" continue to rejuvenate? As China's largest economic center city, how will Shanghai break the "ceiling" of its own development?
Apple Path
Although it is not the first time that Apple has "increased" Shanghai, this new move still releases more signals to the outside world.
Image source: Xinhua News Agency
In fact, a week before Cook's visit to China, Apple's official website announced that it would enhance the capabilities of its Shanghai research center to support smart manufacturing, product reliability, quality, and material analysis.
This is somewhat different from Apple's previous role positioning in Shanghai, where the Shanghai R&D center was established in 2017 to focus on its own software development and software technology upgrades, while China's first design and development accelerator established in Shanghai in 2019 has become a base camp for developer exchanges, connecting developers in the Yangtze River Delta region.
But in the future, Apple's layout in Shanghai may be more inclined to manufacturing.
This can also be glimpsed from Apple's latest job postings. Some media combed and found that from the perspective of department distribution, Shanghai hardware R&D accounted for the largest proportion of new positions, and most of the recruited positions were hardware engineers, and the specific work content involved hardware testing, calibration, system integration and design.
Similar to Apple's "turnaround", manufacturing is becoming an important direction for enterprises to invest in Shanghai at the Global Investment Promotion Conference.
For example, Chint Group signed a contract with Shanghai to implement a photovoltaic inverter and energy storage equipment manufacturing project, and Kong Kangrui, chairman of INVISTA Nylon Chemical (China) Co., Ltd., who attended the meeting, also mentioned that as a comprehensive fiber and polymer company headquartered in the United States, it has completed the completion of the Shanghai adiponitrile production base and the start of the third phase of the polymer expansion project in 2022.
Different from the current style of painting in which enterprises continue to "add" Shanghai, before that, Shanghai once faced the relocation of traditional manufacturing industry, and shouted several times to keep the 25% industrial red line and "maintain the proportion of manufacturing industry that is compatible with Shanghai's urban functions and high-quality development". The real question is, how can Shanghai keep the manufacturing industry because the cost of doing industry in international cities is not low?
In the view of Cui Teng, CEO of Nuomei New Venture, unlike some human feelings, Shanghai has a cost advantage for enterprise development, rather than a disadvantage - considering the government services, industrial base, talents, location and other aspects, especially the government's work efficiency, compliance and openness, Shanghai's comprehensive cost is more competitive.
And this special cost "calculation formula" has also become the threshold for screening Shanghai manufacturing.
According to the latest plan, Shanghai proposes to build a "2+(3+6)+(4+5)" industrial system, of which "2" refers to the transformation of traditional industries to achieve digitalization and green ecology, "3+6" refers to the three leading industries and six key industries, and "4+5" refers to the four new track industries and five future industrial directions.
Looking at the manufacturing enterprises in Shanghai, almost all of them are in line with this.
The Tesla Effect
In a sense, the market adjustment period is also an opportunity period for industrial development, which tests the city's sensitivity in judging the situation and the speed of strategic adjustment. Today's Shanghai is obviously more proactive than ever.
A striking example is the introduction of Tesla. A few years ago, Tesla's first choice of Shanghai attracted strong attention. Tesla's project "started in that year, completed in that year, put into production in that year, and went public in that year", which made the outside world look at the "Shanghai speed" with admiration.
Image source: Xinhua News Agency
On this basis, Shanghai also proposed to promote the "Tesla experience", so that the "Tesla experience" from "special affairs" to the normal service. With Tesla as a benchmark for Shanghai's business environment, it not only attracts more corporate investment, but also indirectly promotes the implementation of Tesla's energy storage super factory project last year.
More importantly, it also leverages the "chain reaction" of Shanghai's manufacturing industry.
Last year, Tao Lin, Tesla's global vice president, pointed out in an interview that Tesla's Shanghai Gigafactory has achieved a localization rate of more than 95% of the industrial chain - its localized parts include powertrain systems, electric drive systems, charging systems, chassis, bodies, etc., involving more than 180 domestic direct and indirect suppliers, of which 56% are suppliers in the Yangtze River Delta.
Behind this, there is no lack of Shanghai's initiative.
In recent years, Shanghai has innovatively proposed the "whole industry chain investment", focusing on supplementing, expanding and strengthening the chain, and carrying out precise investment, fixed-point investment, overseas investment and global investment. The 10 subdivisions proposed by the Global Investment Promotion Conference are the latest direction of investment promotion in Shanghai's industrial chain.
In terms of Shanghai's entire manufacturing landscape, in addition to driving the development of the automobile manufacturing industry itself, Tesla has further integrated more industries, including the advanced materials industry, which is also one of Shanghai's six key industries, and even the integrated circuit industry, which is one of the three leading industries.
On the day of the Global Investment Promotion Conference, a wide bandgap semiconductor industry forum was held at the same time. According to the relevant person in charge of the Lingang Industrial Zone Company, the Oriental Core Port built in the Lingang New Area was given the positioning of exploring the way for the development of Shanghai's integrated circuit industry at the beginning of its birth. After years of exploration, the wide bandgap semiconductor industry has been catching up, and many projects have begun to increase this year, entering a stage of obvious momentum.
A number of industry insiders mentioned that the largest application field of wide bandgap semiconductors today is vehicle-grade chips, and the projects of Tesla and other car companies that have also settled in the Lingang New Area have become application scenarios within sight. In the future, it is expected to further extend to the field of consumer electronics and become a "new magnetic pole" in Shanghai to attract more projects.
Reconstructing "Made in Shanghai"
Today's investment is tomorrow's industry. From the perspective of the Global Investment Promotion Conference, Shanghai intends to explore a more sustainable and future-oriented manufacturing development model to solve the problem of investment promotion.
Image source: Xinhua News Agency
For example, at the meeting, the 2024 "Invest in Shanghai" policy package was released, and it was also mentioned that the Shanghai State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission will promote the establishment of an industrial investment fund of funds with a total scale of 100 billion yuan.
However, there are also views that in the past, Shanghai investment funds seemed to be a little "scattered", "not many big ones", but together they are not small, this is because Shanghai's urban mission is diversified, and there are new goals in the future, the requirements for professional division of labor are very high, and under the limited resources, not all industries need fund intervention. It is through this development path that Shanghai has formed the most complete industrial form in the country.
For "Made in Shanghai", change is inevitable, but how to choose is a more basic problem.
In fact, a few years ago, there was a discussion about "Made in Shanghai". Some people in the industry have pointed out that unlike the Pearl River Delta cities represented by Shenzhen, which are independently developed by the market, the Yangtze River Delta cities represented by Shanghai have given more prominent play to the interactive relationship between the government and the market, and thus formed two slightly different economic development models.
For Shanghai at present, the cooperation between the promising government and the effective market is more important in the development of the manufacturing industry. Taking the investment strategy as an example, although Shanghai has made further progress in attracting enterprises, it has also not forgotten to emphasize "not relying on preferential policies", giving full play to market functions, paying more attention to giving full play to the advantages of industry, innovation and talents, and achieving mutual empowerment through industrial cooperation and innovation synergy with other regions.
Zhou Daohong, general manager of Guosheng Capital, pointed out that Shanghai also attaches great importance to market-oriented awareness in the operation of the fund, and only by truly adhering to the market-oriented operation can it be possible to achieve a good combination of the strategy, functionality and market-oriented income of the fund. In the investment projects operated by Guosheng Capital, not only did not lose money in any project, but also realized the income of state-owned assets well.
It is undeniable that Shanghai is experiencing changes in the development pattern of the national manufacturing industry. Judging from the data, last year, Shanghai's total industrial output value showed a negative growth of 0.2%, declining for two consecutive years. However, this does not mean that there are deficiencies in "Made in Shanghai", on the contrary, Shanghai, which is located in the transition period, needs to effectively release the traditional advantages of "Made in Shanghai" and promote the industry to be promoted according to local conditions.
It has been concluded that in China's economic map, there is a need for the best innovators and fearless pioneers like Shenzhen, as well as the most reliable trustees and managers like Shanghai. Today's Shanghai is not only a Shanghai that faces the future and breaks through the ceiling, but also a Shanghai that has come from history and continues to move forward.
National Business Daily