The Shanghai Foundation Model Innovation Center, a dedicated incubator for the research and development of foundation models and now home to over 100 enterprises, has emerged as a key driver of Shanghai's ambition to become a world-class hub for artificial intelligence.

As of 2024, the city's AI industry had exceeded 450 billion yuan in total output.

Located in Xuhui district, the center is just over a 20-minute metro ride from People's Square in the city center.

The center is home to technology giants such as the Shanghai Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Tencent, Alibaba, Microsoft, SenseTime, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Shanghai Center, as well as AI start-ups like Infinigence, Yitu, and PAI, all located within one kilometer of each other.

Inaugurated in September 2023, it is China's first incubator dedicated to the research and development of foundation models and aims to become the largest AI incubator in the world.

Its construction was completed at remarkable speed: in just 38 days, 13,000 square meters of bare building space were transformed into fully furnished, move-in-ready offices.

On opening day, the center housed 21 foundation model enterprises.

Within 100 days, that number had exceeded 50.

Today, with over 100 resident enterprises, the center has helped drive the formation of a vibrant foundation model ecosystem, with nearly 400 related companies now based in Xuhui district.

It has supported the rollout of 43 registered foundation models, accounting for around 61 percent of Shanghai’s total.

The center has also fostered a complete industrial chain, covering computing infrastructure, base and large language models, and edge AI applications, as well as related industries such as life sciences, consumer tech, finance, and entertainment.

The center is expected to expand its total area to 100,000 square meters in the near future.

The center is focused on cultivating a dynamic and collaborative innovation ecosystem.

It offers concierge-style, all-in-one services for resident enterprises, covering computing resource scheduling, open data access, financial services, business operations support, and talent recruitment.

By February, the center had launched a computing power scheduling platform in partnership with nine providers. With over 50,000 cards, the platform targets computing capacity of 30 EFLOPS across the district.

The center also operates an open data platform powered by resources like the Open Data Lab of the Shanghai Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.

The platform currently offers over 180TB of open-source corpora, with plans to build a high-quality data repository exceeding 2,000TB.

In addition, the center features a financial services platform that has successfully attracted over 100 billion yuan ($13.76 billion) in funds.

These include 52 investment institutions, the 60-billion-yuan National Artificial Intelligence Industry Investment Fund, the 22.5-billion-yuan Shanghai Artificial Intelligence Fund of Funds, and the 20-billion-yuan Xuhui Capital.

The center is located in the vibrant Xuhui Riverside area, surrounded by seven science and technology innovation hubs, each covering over one million square meters.

It neighbors the UNESCO International Institute for STEM Education—a Category 1 institute under UNESCO.

The innovation center also features an AI product experience store, a 500-square-meter retail space showcasing over 200 AI-powered products, 90 percent of which are manufactured in China.

The store offers AI companies a direct channel to market their products before launch, enabling them to gather real-time user feedback and make improvements.

At the same time, it provides visitors hands-on experiences of cutting-edge technologies, ranging from smart wearables and productivity tools to health devices and audio equipment.

Exhibited products include everything from AI-powered robotic pets to smart guitars that track hand movements to simulate musical performance.

The store has become a popular destination for investors seeking insights into the latest AI trends and for the public to engage with emerging AI applications.

Sources: Shanghai Observer, Jiefang Daily