Shanghai's appeal to companies from home and abroad remains unchanged, which can be proven by the 21 new projects incurring 52.4 billion yuan ($7.3 billion) of investment landed in the city on Friday.

The new projects, covering key industries such as biomedicine, new energy, general aviation and semiconductors, were introduced into Shanghai via the collective signing ceremony held during the Shanghai Global Investment Promotion Conference 2024 on Friday.

Upon these, Shanghai will have introduced 420 key projects valued at over 100 million yuan each by the end of the first quarter, with the total investment amounting to 343.5 billion yuan, according to the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization.

Global automotive company FORVIA was present at the Friday signing ceremony. According to Li Jingcheng, FORVIA Asia Strategy and Business Development Vice-President, the company has signed the agreement with the Lin-gang Special Area, which is part of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone, to build a 20,000-square-meter fully automated, digital and multi-process automotive interior factory in Lin-gang. With a total investment of 800 million yuan, the second phase of the factory is scheduled for mass production in early 2025, he said.

In the second half of this year, FORVIA will move the global headquarters of its Faurecia Clarion Electronics business to Shanghai, said Li.

The sound industrial base, the rich supply of talents and the various policy support rendered by the municipal government are the major reasons for many multinational companies like FORVIA to expand their footprints in Shanghai, he added.

Singapore-based Perennial Healthcare signed agreements on Friday, under which the company will invest 1 billion yuan to set up its regional headquarters in northeast Shanghai's Hongkou district.

Tan Bee Lan, CEO of Perennial Healthcare, said that the convenient transportation connections in Shanghai are one of the major reasons for them to land this project. The high-level and precise management is highly valued by foreign companies, she added.

Also announced at the Friday conference is the 100-billion-yuan industrial investment fund of funds to facilitate the development of three pioneering industries of integrated circuit, biomedicine and artificial intelligence.

Gary Knight, global vice president of operations for INVISTA Nylon Enterprise, expressed his excitement about the municipal government's stress on AI. By making quicker decisions with data analytics and checking more aspects while making decisions, AI can serve as a beneficial tool for many industries to improve and optimize the decision process.

"Shanghai has been streamlining the process to bring projects forward. Different from that 10 years ago, the government and industries have worked together to bring the best way," said Knight, adding that the Shanghai government has been good at taking suggestions and executing projects.

Meanwhile, Shanghai has also impressed INVISTA in terms of intellectual property rights protection, which makes the company feel "safe" developing here upon the government's continued commitment to such protection, said Knight.

"It is a great credit to Shanghai and China's policies. You can invest with confidence here," he said.

Otorhinolaryngology diagnosis and treatment services provider Nanos Medical (Shanghai) Limited was present at the Friday conference. According to the company's CEO Cui Teng, it will move its regional headquarters for investment, research and development and sales to Shanghai in the next few years.

"Contrary to many people's understanding, Shanghai is still quite competitive in terms of cost by considering transportation efficiency, communication efficiency, talent supply and comprehensive costs," he said.

During the Friday conference, Shanghai's vice-mayor Chen Jie released investment opportunities in the 10 major industries of AI foundation model, humanoid robots, wide bandgap semiconductors, bio-manufacturing, metaverse, large aircraft, large cruise ships, commercial aerospace, new materials and hydrogen energy.

A syndicated credit of 2 trillion yuan will be provided by 10 banks to the key industries in Shanghai, according to information released during the Friday conference. The municipal government will reduce up to 100 billion yuan of operational costs for local industrial companies by measures such as lowering logistics costs and providing bigger fiscal and tax support.