by HUANG Jingyuan

Global executives weighed in on how artificial intelligence could drive Shanghai's next stage of growth at the city's annual advisory council on Oct. 12, as the financial hub seeks to strengthen its role in China's AI industry.

The International Business Leaders' Advisory Council for the Mayor of Shanghai (IBLAC), launched in 1989 as a dialogue platform between the Shanghai mayor and multinational CEOs, brought together more than 30 global business leaders this year.

Before the meeting, delegates toured an exhibition zone on Shanghai's West Bund featuring innovations from companies including rehabilitation robotics firm Fourier Intelligence, humanoid robot developer AgiBot, and medical imaging company United Imaging. "It's really impressive what's happening here," said Severin Schwan, chairman of Roche Holding AG, adding that Shanghai's efficiency and scale give start-ups a strong base for rapid growth.

Shanghai's AI sector has grown rapidly, according to government data. In the first quarter of 2025, 394 companies generated more than 118 billion yuan (about US$17 billion) in revenue, up 29 percent from a year earlier, while total profits jumped 65 percent. The city's AI workforce now makes up nearly one-third of China's total.

Executives at the council urged Shanghai to build long-term competitiveness. Warburg Pincus Chairman Charles R. Kaye said the city could become a key driver of China's next growth cycle by attracting top talent and directing more capital into AI. He added that the real opportunity lies in embedding the technology to create tangible business value.

Mohamed Kande, global chairman of PwC, said AI is the defining technology of our era and could lift global GDP by as much as 15 percent over the next decade, adding that cities should treat it as core infrastructure by integrating it into transport, healthcare, education and sustainability systems to drive innovation.

Roland Busch, chairman and CEO of Siemens AG, said that while consumer-facing AI dominates headlines today, industrial AI will reshape manufacturing and other core sectors. On September 24, Siemens signed a partnership with Lingang Group, developer of Shanghai's free-trade zone, and the Shanghai Data Exchange (SDE), a government-backed platform for data trading, to build a carbon-footprint data platform that allows clients to feed anonymized, compliant datasets into Siemens' industrial AI models, enabling engineers to generate reliable code within seconds and reduce error rates.

Manny Maceda, global chairman of Bain & Company, said the focus of AI has moved from model hype to real-world value creation, calling on Shanghai to invest in greener data centers and more efficient chip design to cut energy use.

Shriti Vadera, chair of Prudential plc, cautioned that inconsistent oversight could hamper innovation and increase costs, and said Shanghai should pilot trusted frameworks for cross-border data exchange while developing shared standards to balance progress with regulation.