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Wency Chen

Chinese President Xi Jinping turned the spotlight on the country’s artificial intelligence (AI) development efforts during his recent tour of local incubator the Shanghai Foundation Model Innovation Centre (SMC).
“China boasts abundant data resources, a comprehensive industrial system, and vast market potential, providing a promising outlook for the development of AI,” Xi was quoted as saying by state news agency Xinhua during his visit on Tuesday.
Launched in September 2023 after just 38 days of construction, the SMC – located in Shanghai’s Xuhui district, near the Huangpu River – is focused on enterprises involved in the development of foundational AI models.
More than 100 companies have joined since the centre commenced operations, according to the SMC, showing the importance of local government support in fostering AI talent and innovation.
Foundational models, which are trained on massive data sets, provide scientists with a starting point to develop AI models and applications quickly and cost effectively. These are capable of performing a wide variety of general tasks such as understanding language, generating text and images, and conversing in natural language.
On the West Bund, the SMC’s location is known as a magnet for art lovers because of the area’s museums and galleries. Along with a trendy commercial centre that was launched last year, the incubator has become the latest attraction on the river bank.
The SMC was festooned with banners, featuring slogans promoting AI and entrepreneurship, when the South China Morning Post visited the facility on Wednesday afternoon.

“First Choice for Entrepreneurship Globally,” “National AI Strategic Emerging Industry Cluster” and “New Productive Forces” read some of the slogans. Meanwhile, floors at the facility were identified by users and focus area, such as “organisers”, “innovators”, “agents”, “reasoners”, “chatbots” and “AGI”, which refers to artificial general intelligence.
At a small square, a wall of logos shows the SMC’s resident companies. These include Intel partner ModelBest, start-up Infinigence AI, energy sector-focused DaMao AI, image-generation firm LibLib, government-backed training data provider KPS and AI search engine firm Meta Sota.
According to the SMC, it provides companies in its ecosystem with computing power, data sets for training, legal compliance guidance and financial support. The substantial state outlay for the incubator included investments from the 60 billion yuan (US$8.24 billion) national AI Industry Fund, the 22.5 billion yuan Shanghai AI Fund-of-Funds and Xuhui district’s 20-billion-yuan fund.
During his visit, Xi had conversations with several entrepreneurs, including Infinigence AI chief executive Xia Lixue, AgiBot founder Peng Zhihui and Stepfun chief executive Jiang Daxin.
Xi also visited the SMC’s AI product experience store, where he reportedly tried on a pair of AI smart glasses.

In recent years, the West Bund has emerged as the “AI highland”, reflecting the intense competition between major cities like Shanghai, Beijing and Hangzhou to align with the nation’s tech development goals.
Moving west from the riverside, visitors can see Alibaba Group Holding’s Shanghai headquarters, which opened in September last year. Alibaba owns the Post.
Near that building stands the Shanghai Academy of AI for Science, where former Ant Group scientist Qi Yuan serves as chief scientist, and the site of Banma Network Technologies, an Alibaba-backed autonomous-driving software start-up.

Two skyscrapers, dubbed “AI Towers”, in the same area house numerous tech firms and research institutions. Notable tenants include Hong Kong-listed AI firm SenseTime, foundational model start-up Stepfun, Microsoft Research Asia’s Shanghai offices and the Shanghai Qi Zhi Institute, led by renowned Chinese computer scientist Andrew Yao Chi-chih.
Video-gaming giants Tencent Holdings and NetEase have separate office buildings nearby. The design headquarters of Zeekr, carmaker Geely’s premium electric vehicle unit is also in the same location.
The area is also home to the offices of prominent organisations such as Unesco, the China-Brics AI Development and Cooperation Centre, and state broadcaster China Central Television.


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The Chinese president toured the Shanghai Foundation Model Innovation Centre on Tuesday to highlight the country’s vast potential in AI


The Chinese president toured the Shanghai Foundation Model Innovation Centre on Tuesday to highlight the country’s vast potential in AI.


The SMC: what to see at the Shanghai AI incubator visited by Xi Jinping

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The Chinese president toured the Shanghai Foundation Model Innovation Centre on Tuesday to highlight the country’s vast potential in AI

The Chinese president toured the Shanghai Foundation Model Innovation Centre on Tuesday to highlight the country’s vast potential in AI