Chip Kaye, chief executive officer of global private equity firm Warburg Pincus, said on Oct 12 that Shanghai can become the city where the future is built if it moves quickly to integrate top talent, efficient capital markets, and practical AI applications.

Speaking at the annual meeting of the International Business Leaders’ Advisory Council for the Mayor of Shanghai, Kaye said the world is "at the precipice of a brave, new world" defined by simultaneous geopolitical shifts and the fastest technology adoption cycle in history.

Kaye, who first visited Shanghai in 1982 and later spent most of the 1990s in Hong Kong, outlined three pillars he believes will determine whether Shanghai continues to serve as China's growth engine.

Citing industry data, he noted that roughly half of the engineers on Meta's newly formed "super-intelligence" team are Chinese. "The competition for these minds will be intense."

He urged Shanghai to pair affordable housing, world-class healthcare, and international schools with a more robust ecosystem of managers, designers, and creative professionals.

"Cities that attract — and keep — the young and ambitious will be the cities that grow," he said.

On financial markets, he suggested that Shanghai deepen venture capital and private equity, liberalize insurance and pension allocations, and streamline bankruptcy procedures "so that capital can recycle efficiently and investors meet companies without pre-ordained outcomes."

While public internet data dominate headlines, Kaye said the bigger economic prize lies in private data locked inside factories, hospitals, and logistics networks.

"Shanghai can help small and medium enterprises — China's economic backbone — adopt AI tools that improve competitiveness and create jobs, not just headlines," Kaye said.

He added that the city's expanding solar, wind, and nuclear footprint gives it a cost advantage in the coming wave of power-hungry data centers.

Kaye closed by stressing the importance of trust between government and businesses.

"Shanghai has long been a model of that partnership. Restoring it means clear rules, transparent enforcement, and open dialogue," he said.