Shanghai will accelerate the construction of characteristic industrial parks and promote investment in local industries, according to policies issued by Shanghai last Friday.

The city will build 26 characteristic industrial parks covering a total planning area of 108 square kilometers and focus on cultivating six key sectors including integrated circuit (CI), biomedicine, artificial intelligence (AI), aerospace, new materials and intelligent manufacturing.

The development of 12 major areas of the online economy will be prioritized in Shanghai to attract investment, and the construction of new infrastructure such as 5G base stations, industrial Internet, big data centers, and smart grids will be enhanced.

In terms of financial support, the metropolis in east China will set up 100 billion yuan of industrial fund for the development of CI, AI and biomedicine, and expand the scope of medium and long-term low interest loans from CI to cover AI, biomedicine and other fields.

Shanghai will also provide 100 billion yuan of medium- and long-term credit fund for advanced manufacturing industry, 100 billion yuan of development fund for the transformation and upgrading of industrial parks, and 100 billion yuan of credit support for new types of networks, facilities, platforms, and terminals.

The policies are issued to spur social investment to hedge the uncertainties of the global economy, said Wu Jincheng, chairman of Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization, adding that Shanghai would intensify efforts to create a better business environment with better services for investors.