Shanghai's artificial intelligence industry landscape is poised for significant transformation with the upcoming launch of "Zhangjiang AI Town" in Pudong New Area. The town will encompass existing specialized industrial parks within Zhangjiang Science City, including the Moli Community and AI Island.
The Moli Community officially commenced operations in August of last year, positioning itself as a cluster zone for vertical AI models - artificial intelligence large models with specialized capabilities in specific domains. Nearly a year since its opening, Moli Community has attracted over 100 companies, including PPIO, Causality Tech, Nexwise Intelligence, and JiDou Technology, covering three major business sectors: embodied intelligence, scientific intelligence, and applied intelligence.
This positioning distinguishes Moli Community from the AI cluster space in Xuhui District, with both forming Shanghai's "dual-core" AI industry structure. The Xuhui space, operational since August 2023, primarily focuses on general-purpose large models and houses leading companies such as MiniMax and StepFun.
According to Zhu Hui, General Manager of Shanghai Zhangjiang Science Gate Technology Development Co., Ltd., the operator of Moli Community, the facility is currently operating at near-full capacity with tenant companies occupying 100,000 square meters of office space. The community is currently undergoing expansion to accommodate additional AI enterprises.
Located approximately one kilometer west of Moli Community is Zhangjiang AI Island, which began operations in 2019. The island comprises 21 standalone buildings with a total floor area of 157,500 square meters, hosting 85 companies including Infineon's Greater China headquarters and Kepler Robotics headquarters.
Guo Kui, Deputy General Manager of Shanghai Zhangjiang Digital Intelligence Economic Development Co., Ltd., which operates AI Island, noted that both AI Island and Moli Community are specialized industrial parks developed by Zhangjiang Group. The two parks maintain highly coordinated industry positioning, with frequent interactions between tenant companies and multiple AI-focused industry exchange activities held weekly.
The establishment of Zhangjiang AI Town represents a crucial step in Pudong New Area's and Shanghai's overall AI industry development strategy. In the first quarter of 2025, Shanghai's AI industry included 394 above-scale enterprises generating revenue of 118 billion yuan, representing a 29% year-over-year increase, with talent resources accounting for approximately one-third of the national total.
During a press conference on Shanghai's "14th Five-Year Plan" achievements held on August 20, Li Zheng, Member of Shanghai Municipal Party Committee Standing Committee and Secretary of Pudong New Area Party Committee, stated that during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, Pudong strengthened its high-end industrial leadership function, advancing the three pillar industries of integrated circuits, biomedicine, and artificial intelligence toward world-class industrial clusters. In 2024, Pudong's three pillar industries achieved a scale of 832.3 billion yuan, accounting for 46% of the city's total, with an average annual compound growth rate of 11.7% over the past three years.
During the same press conference, Wu Jincheng, Deputy Secretary-General of Shanghai Municipal Government, Deputy Secretary and District Chief of Pudong New Area Party Committee, mentioned that last year Pudong's AI industry reached a scale of 163.7 billion yuan, representing approximately 40% of the city's total. The area has clustered over 200 companies in the vertical model upstream and downstream sectors, more than 70 companies related to the embodied intelligence industry chain, and 28 large model products have completed regulatory filing.