On August 19th, six major projects with a total investment exceeding 40 billion yuan chose to establish operations in Shanghai's Lingang New Area. These projects span key sectors including integrated circuits, high-end equipment, automotive software, and artificial intelligence. Such milestone moments have occurred repeatedly over the past six years, collectively illustrating the high-quality development journey of Lingang New Area as it shoulders its national strategic mission.

Since its establishment six years ago, Lingang New Area has consistently adhered to the "Five Importants" as its fundamental guideline, achieving rapid development: regional GDP has grown at an annual average rate of 17.6%, industrial output value above designated size has increased by 28.4% annually, and total fixed asset investment has risen by 25.7% per year, elevating the regional economy to new heights.

"Lingang's tremendous development is evident to all, especially since the establishment of the New Area in 2019. Anchored on building a special economic functional zone that aligns with international practices and possesses greater international market influence and competitiveness, despite facing pandemic impacts and international economic downturns, key economic indicators have continued their upward trajectory," said Chen Jie, Standing Committee Member of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee and Vice Mayor, at the signing ceremony on August 19th. Chen noted that Lingang has gradually evolved from a regional industrial economic entity into a new engine and growth driver for Shanghai's economic development. "These achievements are hard-won, embodying the dedicated efforts of every builder."

Chen also emphasized that the landing of the latest six major projects reflects enterprises' expectations and trust in Lingang, choosing to deploy their most important and promising projects here. "From a long-term perspective, I believe such strategic positioning will definitely bear fruit and flourish in the years to come."

The continuous project settlements demonstrate Lingang New Area's growing attractiveness to industries both nationally and globally. "Lingang serves as the nation's frontier for openness, and the true foundation of openness lies in industrial development," stated Chen Jinshan, Standing Committee Member of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee, Party Secretary and Director of Lingang New Area Administrative Committee.

Particularly crucial is that beyond unique institutional advantages, after years of rapid development, ecological advantages have become Lingang's greatest industrial competitiveness. Key industries such as integrated circuits and intelligent new energy vehicles continue to increase investment and scale up production in Lingang, frequently demonstrating strong upstream and downstream magnetic effects.

"For enterprise development, if a location lacks a good industrial system and ecosystem, companies struggle to achieve greater success. However, when the industrial ecosystem thrives, not only individual enterprises prosper, but all companies in the industrial chain benefit," Chen Jinshan emphasized emphatically. Around leading industries, Lingang will continue building an even better industrial ecosystem.

**Institutional Innovation as Greatest Advantage, Continuously Unleashing Vitality**

For bulk trading enterprises, international market prices fluctuate rapidly. If companies cannot process payments and receipts promptly, they may miss optimal trading opportunities, causing not only economic losses but also damaging corporate reputation. The objective challenge facing such enterprises is that settlement efficiency represents one of the bottlenecks affecting their offshore trading operations.

In Lingang New Area, such enterprises currently contribute approximately 90% of offshore trading volume, serving as the absolute main force driving regional offshore trade development. During this year's Lujiazui Forum, the People's Bank of China announced the launch of comprehensive offshore trade financial services reform pilots in Lingang New Area, resolving the aforementioned issues.

Zhang Jian, Deputy Director of the Financial and Trade Department of Lingang New Area Administrative Committee, explained to reporters that the pilot program pioneered using offshore trading subsidiary companies as vehicles, with pilot banks providing "non-documentary review" settlement services for pilot enterprises, compressing the 2-3 working day settlement process to "seconds-level" efficiency.

"This truly achieves benchmarking against international highest standards in offshore trading settlement, reaching equivalent efficiency levels with mature offshore centers like Hong Kong and Singapore."

Within just one month of the pilot's launch, multiple enterprises applied for participation, including foreign companies, private enterprises, and state-owned enterprises. Business varieties encompass wafer semiconductors, traditional manufacturing, and non-ferrous metal bulk trading, demonstrating "high compatibility with Lingang's industrial profile."

According to reports, some pilot enterprises successfully completed offshore trading fund settlements through the "non-documentary review" model in their first pilot month, with cumulative volume reaching approximately 500 million yuan.

The successful implementation of the pilot program helps Lingang further develop offshore trading. Throughout 2024, Lingang New Area's offshore entrepot trading volume reached approximately $24.78 billion, growing 87.5% year-on-year and accounting for 46.1% of the city's total. Entering 2025, growth momentum remains strong, with first-quarter offshore entrepot trading volume reaching approximately $8.153 billion, up 56.67% year-on-year.

Currently, Lingang has attracted over 100 enterprises engaged in offshore trading to establish roots. "As more pilot enterprises and banks join in the future, Lingang, as an important hub coordinating onshore and offshore business, will continue attracting global resource elements, forming a more competitive offshore trading financial ecosystem and helping Shanghai continuously enhance its voice in global trade rule-making," Zhang stated.

Startup companies like Shanghai Hefuchengdian Robot Technology Co., Ltd. ("Hefuchengdian") benefit from Lingang's "Grant-to-Investment" innovation pilot. To break through the "0-1" innovation-driven pathway and accelerate building a global innovation and entrepreneurship highland, Lingang New Area's characteristic "Grant-to-Investment" innovation pilot work plan and management measures were launched in April.

At the 2025 Lingang Innovation Conference in May, Lingang New Area Administrative Committee announced annual investment of approximately 200 million yuan for "Grant-to-Investment" innovation pilot projects and R&D initiatives, with the first batch of eight pilot projects officially signed at the conference.

Fu Zhangjie, Deputy Director of the High-Tech Department of Lingang New Area Administrative Committee, explained that Lingang's characteristic "Grant-to-Investment" features multiple innovations, including "fully releasing project selection and approval decision-making authority to innovation platforms and high-quality incubators, maximizing subjective initiative and innovation source advantages."

Additionally, it innovatively adopts specialized venture capital funds as holding platforms, specifically responsible for equity conversion stage project due diligence, investment agreement negotiation and signing, post-investment management, and project exit work. "This mechanism effectively leverages market-oriented fund operational vitality."

This innovation pilot will also drive government transformation in three aspects: "From past industrial policy makers to industry partners, intervening earlier in projects to accompany startups in joint growth; from past risk bearers to risk-sharing and benefit-sharing; from past administrative intervention to market empowerment through innovation platforms, high-quality incubators, and specialized venture capital funds," Fu emphasized.

Hefuchengdian's AI supercomputing center-directed all-terrain photovoltaic intelligent installation robot project, undertaken by the company, represents one of the first batch pilot projects. With total financing of 100 million yuan, pre-investment valuation of 350 million yuan, and 5 million yuan in government support funds, the project aims to build production and testing lines for all-terrain photovoltaic intelligent installation robots, expecting to achieve revenues exceeding 400 million yuan.

Hefuchengdian officially registered in Lingang in May. General Manager Chen Xiaodong explained that the company has assembled a technical team of 40 core research personnel in Lingang, primarily focusing on R&D and production. The company's developed photovoltaic module intelligent installation (disassembly) and photovoltaic module intelligent operation and maintenance robot series achieve closed-loop photovoltaic operation and maintenance industrial chain ecology.

Zhou Jinting, Chairman of Hefuchengdian's parent company Shanghai Hefu Artificial Intelligence Technology (Group) Co., Ltd., previously disclosed plans to invest 500 million yuan in Lingang New Area in 2025, emphasizing that investing and building factories in a good atmosphere allows companies to "thrive like fish in water."

The company has reportedly established cooperation and completed product deliveries with China Huadian, China Energy Construction, China Construction Second Bureau, China Construction Third Bureau, China Construction Technology, and China MCC Fifth Engineering.

"Lingang's industrial ecosystem clustering and Chengdian Intelligent System Innovation Platform provide scenario empowerment for us. Grant-investment linkage funding and assistance in applying for technology R&D projects continuously support our product iteration and upgrading, accelerating the incubation of our technological achievements," Chen Xiaodong stated.

Chen Jinshan emphasized at Lingang New Area's 2025 Business Environment Optimization Conference that Lingang's greatest advantage lies in institutional innovation, with its core competitiveness being high-level openness, always positioning institutional innovation as the key measure for optimizing business environment.

Since its establishment six years ago, Lingang New Area has consistently adhered to the "Five Importants" as its fundamental guideline, deeply advancing the construction of an institutional opening system centered on "Five Freedoms and One Convenience."

Latest data shows that Lingang has generated 166 breakthrough institutional innovation cases, including 79 nationally pioneering cases.

**Industrial Clusters Expand, New Business Forms Continuously Cultivated**

In June, Shanghai Xinmi Technology Co., Ltd. ("Xinmi Technology"), established in Lingang just five years ago, had its Science and Technology Innovation Board IPO application officially accepted by the Shanghai Stock Exchange, seeking to raise 785 million yuan. The company is a national specialized and sophisticated "little giant" enterprise and among Lingang New Area's first batch of key enterprises.

"Xinmi Technology was born and raised in Lingang. Currently, the company is rapidly expanding, achieving operating revenue exceeding 200 million yuan in 2024, with employee numbers surpassing 200," Vice General Manager and Board Secretary Zhang Dong stated.

With solid technical capabilities and excellent product performance, Xinmi Technology has grown into a leading domestic enterprise in high-end perfluoroether rubber sealing rings for semiconductor equipment, achieving import substitution of key components. According to Frost & Sullivan statistics, in 2023 and 2024, Xinmi Technology's semiconductor-grade perfluoroether rubber sealing ring sales scale ranked third in the Chinese market for two consecutive years and first among Chinese enterprises.

The company's founder and actual controller is Xie Changjie. As early as 2001, Xie worked as an equipment engineer at SMIC. From 2002 to 2020, he worked at various companies including TI, Dachang, Qiyang, and Teyang, responsible for sales and technical applications of multiple international top sealing brands, leading teams to achieve long-term leading market shares for sealing products in the Chinese market.

After over 20 years in the semiconductor field, Xie decided to start his own business, focusing on semiconductor-grade perfluoroether rubber with nearly zero domestication rate. Since its establishment in 2020, Xinmi Technology has completed five financing rounds, with deep participation from leading institutions including Shenzhen Capital Group, SMIC Capital, and IDG Capital. In 2023, AMEC and ACM Research, two semiconductor equipment leaders with deep Lingang presence, provided 30 million yuan in strategic investment.

Zhang explained that Xinmi Technology chose to launch in Lingang five years ago "mainly because Lingang positions itself as 'Oriental Chip Harbor,' focusing on comprehensive integrated circuit industry chain layout, with unique advantages in industrial development, regional clustering effects, policy support, and research atmosphere, highly compatible with our company's focus on semiconductor high-end sealing materials."

In Lingang New Area's leading industries, integrated circuits represent an absolute core component. Developing to date, Lingang New Area has become a nationally important integrated circuit industry cluster and technology innovation highland. The Oriental Chip Harbor Integrated Circuit Comprehensive Industrial Base, officially unveiled in October 2020, has become China's integrated circuit industrial base with the highest concentration, largest scale, and strongest innovation capabilities.

"In recent years, the continuously improving industrial chain and open cooperation atmosphere within the park have provided enterprises with more opportunities for communication and collaboration. This ecological effect has helped Xinmi Technology integrate into the industrial chain more quickly, improving R&D and application efficiency," Zhang noted.

"When enterprises come to Lingang, they can definitely find upstream suppliers and downstream customers," Lu Yu, Director of the Development and Reform Department of Lingang New Area Administrative Committee, previously emphasized that efficient industrial chain matching and docking has become a core advantage for Lingang's integrated circuit industry development.

Zhuang Qingsong, Deputy Director of the Development and Reform Department of Lingang New Area Administrative Committee, recently explained that around key industrial sectors, Lingang continues solidifying high-quality development foundations. For example, in integrated circuits, recent achievements include launching Changdian automotive-grade packaging and testing and Sunny Optical waveguide projects, introducing leaders like Shenghe Jingwei and ASM Technology. Building on last year's 1.6-fold growth, first-half production value increased 23.8% year-on-year.

Beyond integrated circuits, civil aviation has attracted over 60 large aircraft supporting enterprises, with aerospace production value growing 52.9% year-on-year in the first half; high-end equipment sees State Power Investment Group partnering with Tesla to build a 2GWh independent energy storage station, driving upstream and downstream capacity improvements while planning sodium-ion and other new energy storage technologies, with annual energy storage production value expected to reach 30 billion yuan; intelligent new energy vehicles landed SAIC-Huawei's "SAIC Shangkai" project while attracting automotive electronics and software enterprises; digital economy sees Dishui Lake AI Innovation Port clustering digital and software enterprises, with above-scale information software technology service revenue growing over 40% for two consecutive years.

Under the ecological effects of leading enterprises driving upstream and downstream development, industrial boundaries continue expanding. A powerful example is skateboard chassis, which was still considered "black technology" two or three years ago but has now produced a unicorn worth over 10 billion yuan in Lingang.

Contemporary Amperex Technology (Shanghai) Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd. ("Era Intelligence") recently confirmed to reporters that the company's first financing round is nearing completion, expected to finish industrial and commercial changes by late August. This round is led by renowned market-oriented investment institutions, with new energy industrial capital and state-owned capital participation. Financing funds may be used for skateboard chassis project vehicle mass production and new technology R&D for RoboX (represented by Robotaxi and Robovan autonomous vehicles) scenarios.

In 2021, domestic lithium battery giant Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.,Ltd. (CATL) consecutively established two companies in Lingang. Following the 100% controlled Ruiting Era, located just 3 kilometers from Tesla's Shanghai Gigafactory, CATL chose to position another subsidiary, Era Intelligence, also in Lingang. Compared to the former, the latter carries greater ambition, potentially triggering another comprehensive transformation of the automotive industry.

Era Intelligence's positioning in Lingang directly relates to the rise of Lingang's intelligent new energy vehicle industry. "For autonomous driving-related business, multiple autonomous driving companies conduct testing and deployment in Lingang, with skateboard chassis offering more technical cooperation possibilities for autonomous driving," Era Intelligence representatives explained. Lingang's clustering effects in new energy and intelligent vehicles create conveniences for industrial chain ecological collaboration.

The representative also mentioned that overseas markets represent Era Intelligence's future business expansion focus. "Lingang New Area's strategic positioning will provide more conveniences for international market expansion, such as taxation and logistics clearance."

**Making Young People and Innovative Enterprises Fall in Love with This Young City**

"Since graduating with my doctorate and working in Lingang this past year, I've received essentially all eligible benefits and subsidies. Next, I'm considering purchasing property and settling in Lingang, where there are very substantial housing subsidies for employment personnel like us," said Han Shihao, an optical measurement system designer at Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology Investment Co., Ltd. In nearly a year since returning to China after doctoral graduation, he successfully achieved a promising start in both career and family life in Lingang.

Chen Biao (pseudonym) works as an intelligent connected vehicle tester. Behind Shanghai Lingang's first batch of driverless intelligent connected taxis officially opening to public service on August 15th are workers like Chen Biao, who spend long hours daily in passenger seats conducting road tests, collecting test data from their regular "partners" and continuously optimizing performance.

Despite experiencing discomfort from prolonged sitting, the dedicated Chen Biao told reporters, "If everyone slacks off, how can intelligent driving progress?"

Lingang has many people like Han Shihao and Chen Biao. "Young city, city for young people" represents Lingang's resounding slogan. Batches of young domestic and international talents achieve "mutual attraction" with Lingang, striving for life and pursuing dreams here.

"Currently, our company has over 600 employees. Lingang's talent introduction policy benefits have enabled some employees to settle and establish households, increasing personnel stability," Era Intelligence representatives stated. Skateboard chassis represents an extremely innovative product, and Lingang's "young city" positioning, vibrant atmosphere, and specialized housing, settlement, and subsidy policies for talent "provide assistance in attracting top young engineers and technical talent from across the nation and globally."

The representative also noted significantly improved surrounding educational and medical facilities over recent years, enhancing employee quality of life and sense of belonging, "creating favorable conditions for retaining core talent and business teams."

Zhang Dong similarly mentioned that Lingang is a young city attracting numerous creative and passionate young talents. "It offers not only excellent research atmosphere but also livable and business-friendly environments. For our company, this helps attract high-quality talent while enhancing employee belonging and long-term development confidence."

From these enterprise feedback, Lingang's frontier industries are reconstructing Shanghai's human resources competitiveness as a key factor. Shanghai Junyue Shenghui Technology Co., Ltd. ("Junyue Shenghui"), engaged in advertising data business, with General Manager Liu Xinyu explaining that companies requiring data processing services like theirs need substantial human resource investments, and positioning in Lingang offers human resource advantages.

Liu explained that their annotation projects differ from other companies: "Besides English, we handle various minor languages, requiring certain annotation quality standards. We pilot operations at Lingang University Town, achieving good results with several countries' annotations. If relocated to third or fourth-tier cities, costs might decrease, but quality assurance becomes impossible, affecting personnel matching and recruitment difficulty."

Wang Liang, Level-4 Researcher at Lingang New Area Administrative Committee Data Department, also highlighted this point, believing the recently announced Lingang International Data Processing Hub construction will help enterprises cluster more talent. "Lingang is a city for young people. Whether data processing or digital culture, the data industry employs numerous energetic and creative young people. Their clustering in Lingang New Area represents an effective factor enabling our international data processing hub."

Attracting young talent clustering is key to Lingang New Area's modern, vibrant new city development. Zhuang Qingsong used data to demonstrate Lingang's "talent recruitment" effectiveness: throughout 2024, the New Area attracted over 43,000 new talent introductions and settlements, growing 36.4% and maintaining growth momentum.

Future focus on key functions will see Lingang continue accelerating talent cultivation. Zhuang introduced that Lingang will encourage various development entities to upgrade facilities, creating diverse, comprehensive, and convenient low-cost innovation spaces. Improving cultural, sports, medical services, and educational training urban functions while creating youth interaction spaces and building characteristic youth clustering communities.

Lingang will also promote New Area universities to dynamically optimize discipline and professional layouts according to industrial needs, deepening industry-education integration and collaborative education, strengthening engineering master's and doctoral degree and skilled talent cultivation.

Notably, Li Xiangcong, Director of Lingang New Area Administrative Committee High-Tech Department, mentioned on August 19th that Lingang will accelerate building the "Lingang Innovation City" brand, leveraging Lingang's low-cost innovation and entrepreneurship advantages through "Grant-to-Investment," "360" entrepreneurship policies, establishing Lingang Angel Association mechanisms, and surrounding research institution technology incubation to enable more enterprises to grow locally from Lingang.

Chen Jinshan stated that Lingang should become an important base for technology achievement transformation, a significant cluster for emerging industry development, and an important testing ground for new business forms and models, "becoming an ideal homeland for young people's entrepreneurship and development." He emphasized that Lingang should build its innovation and entrepreneurship city better, "enabling all young people and various innovative enterprises, whether large or small, to fall in love with this young city of Lingang."