The artificial intelligence landscape in China is gaining new momentum as Shanghai state-owned capital makes a bold move to strengthen the city’s AI industry ecosystem. In a landmark development, two major Shanghai state-backed investment entities—Pudong Innovation Investment Development (Group) Co., Ltd. and Zhangjiang (Group) Co., Ltd.—have signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Beijing-based Zhipu Huazhang Technology Co., Ltd. (referred to as “Zhipu”), committing a total investment of 1 billion yuan ($140 million). This significant financial backing underscores Shanghai’s ambition to become a national hub for AI innovation and large model development.
Both investing parties are fully owned by the Pudong New Area State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, highlighting the government’s direct involvement in accelerating AI infrastructure and ecosystem growth. The partnership was officially announced during Zhipu’s Open Platform Industry Ecosystem Conference held in Zhangjiang, Pudong, marking a pivotal step in integrating advanced AI capabilities into regional industrial development.
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Building a Green-Powered AI Infrastructure Backbone
A cornerstone of this collaboration is the joint launch of a next-generation artificial intelligence infrastructure initiative with Shanghai Yidian (Group) Co., Ltd. and Pudong Development (Group) Co., Ltd. This project represents a groundbreaking integration of power, computing, and model technologies—what industry experts are calling an “electricity-compute-model” integrated foundation.
Sunny Sun, General Manager of the New Industries Department at Pudong Development Group, explained in an interview with Sci-Tech Innovation News that the three companies will establish a joint venture to deploy a 10,000-GPU cluster, one of the largest AI computing resources currently under development in China. The cluster will be hosted within Pudong Development Group’s green energy-powered facility, operating entirely on 100% renewable electricity.
“This ‘10,000-card cluster’ refers to a massive pool of high-performance AI accelerators—such as NVIDIA H100 GPUs—dedicated to training and running large-scale AI models,” Sun said. “While demand for such computational power is surging across industries, supply remains extremely limited. This infrastructure will not only support local enterprises but also serve as a strategic asset for attracting AI-driven businesses to the region.”
Currently, this project is the only one of its kind in Shanghai among five national pilot programs focused on coordinated power and computing development, emphasizing its strategic importance.
Zhipu’s Rapid Rise in the AI Race
Zhipu stands out as one of the leading players among China’s “Six Little Tigers” of large AI models—and notably, it is the first from this group to initiate an IPO process. Beyond the recent 10-billion-yuan investment from Shanghai’s state capital, Zhipu has been aggressively expanding its funding base throughout 2025.
In March alone, the company secured three separate rounds of financing totaling over 18 billion yuan, with backing from state-owned investors in Hangzhou, Zhuhai, and Chengdu. In April, the Beijing Industrial Development Fund injected an additional 2 billion yuan into Zhipu, coinciding with the company’s official launch of上市辅导 (IPO preparation), setting the stage for a potential public listing.
At the same conference, Zhipu CEO Zhang Peng unveiled two major advancements signaling the company’s push toward Artificial General Intelligence (AGI):
- GLM-4.1V-Thinking: A newly open-sourced multimodal vision-language model that emphasizes reasoning capabilities, setting new performance benchmarks for models in the 10-billion-parameter class.
- Agent Space: A new MaaS (Model-as-a-Service) platform that aggregates intelligent agents and empowers developers to build AI-driven applications across industries. Accompanying this launch is the “Agent Pioneer Support Program” under the Z Fund, designed to nurture early-stage AI agent innovations.
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Deepening Ecosystem Integration in Zhangjiang’s AI Hub
Zhipu’s expansion into Shanghai is more than financial—it's deeply rooted in ecosystem development. In March 2025, the company officially joined Zhangjiang’s “Model Power Community” (MoLi Community), a specialized industrial cluster focused on vertical large model applications. Today, MoLi hosts nearly 70 model-focused enterprises, including 25 that have completed safety reviews and official registrations.
The community has become a thriving hub for cutting-edge AI research and application, spanning fields such as embodied intelligence, scientific AI, and applied AI. By partnering with Zhangjiang Group, Zhipu co-launched the Zhangjiang MoLi-Zhipu MaaS Platform, offering resident companies access to a dedicated “model pool” powered by Zhipu’s proprietary GLM series of large models.
Wang Xian, member of the Party Leadership Group at Zhangjiang Science City Construction Management Office, emphasized that this collaboration marks the initial formation of a self-sustaining AI industrial ecosystem. “We’re seeing strong synergy between infrastructure, talent, capital, and application scenarios,” she said.
Shanghai’s Broader Vision for AI Leadership
Shanghai’s support for Zhipu reflects a broader strategy to lead China’s “AI+” transformation. According to Zhang Hongtao, Deputy Director of the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization, integrating AI into high-value industries is essential for creating closed-loop value chains.
“Shanghai is fully committed to enabling innovators like Zhipu to participate in building intelligent application scenarios,” Zhang stated. “By embedding deep domain knowledge into sectors like fintech, biomedicine, embodied intelligence, and smart manufacturing, we aim to create flagship applications that solve real-world challenges.”
To support this vision, the city is advancing a comprehensive AI innovation ecosystem, including:
- A 100-petaflop-level intelligent computing system to provide scalable compute resources.
- The creation of around 50 open-domain corpora tailored to specific industries.
- The promotion of dozens of示范applications showcasing practical AI use cases.
These initiatives are designed to lower barriers for AI adoption while fostering cross-industry collaboration.
Looking Ahead: Scaling Investment and Innovation
Going forward, Zhangjiang Group, Pudong Innovation Investment Group, and other key regional platforms plan to deepen their collaboration with Zhipu across three core areas: equity investment, industrial empowerment, and ecosystem co-construction. This multi-layered partnership aims to create a virtuous cycle where capital fuels innovation, infrastructure enables deployment, and real-world applications generate value.
As AI continues to evolve from experimental technology to mission-critical infrastructure, strategic alliances between government-backed investors and leading tech firms will play a defining role in shaping the future of intelligent economies.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Q: What is the significance of the 10-billion-yuan investment in Zhipu?
A: This investment marks one of the largest state-backed funding moves in China’s AI sector in 2025. It highlights Shanghai’s commitment to building a world-class AI ecosystem by supporting top-tier model developers like Zhipu with capital, infrastructure, and policy support.
Q: What does “10,000-GPU cluster” mean and why is it important?
A: A 10,000-GPU cluster refers to a massive array of high-performance computing cards used to train large AI models. Such clusters are critical for advancing AI capabilities but are expensive and energy-intensive. This project stands out for using 100% green energy and integrating power and computing planning.
Q: Is Zhipu planning to go public?
A: Yes. Zhipu initiated IPO preparation in April 2025 and is the first among China’s “Six Little Tigers” of large models to do so, signaling strong investor confidence and maturity in its business model.
Q: What is the “Model Power Community” in Zhangjiang?
A: It is an AI-focused industrial cluster in Pudong, Shanghai, dedicated to fostering innovation in vertical large models. It hosts nearly 70 companies working on embodied intelligence, scientific AI, and industry-specific applications.
Q: How is Shanghai supporting AI development beyond funding?
A: Shanghai is building a 100-petaflop intelligent computing system, developing open industry datasets, promoting示范applications, and integrating AI into key sectors like finance, healthcare, and manufacturing.
Q: What are Zhipu’s latest technological releases?
A: Zhipu recently launched GLM-4.1V-Thinking—a reasoning-focused multimodal model—and Agent Space, a new MaaS platform that enables developers to deploy AI agents across industries.
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