Shanghai confirms 34 major foreign investment projects for 2026

Shanghai has identified 34 major foreign-invested projects for 2026, including 15 new additions, with a total planned investment exceeding 120 billion yuan ($16.6 billion), according to the Shanghai Municipal Development and Reform Commission.

The new projects span several key sectors, including strategic industries, digital, intelligent and green transformation, product innovation and upgrading, technological research and development, and modern service industries such as cultural tourism.

Since establishing a mechanism for major foreign investment projects in 2021, Shanghai has supported the construction and implementation of over 60 projects through a dedicated task force involving municipal departments and district governments. The initiative has streamlined approvals for project entry, planning, land use, environmental protection, energy consumption, construction, foreign exchange, and equipment import and export.

Among the projects now operational are Tesla's Gigafactory and Megafactory in Shanghai, Invista's adiponitrile (ADN) and polymer expansion phase III, Straumann's industry-academia-research center, and the Legoland Shanghai Resort.

To create a world-class business environment and accelerate high-level opening-up, Shanghai has launched pilot programs in service sectors such as value-added telecommunications, gene diagnostics and therapy, and wholly foreign-owned hospitals.

The city has also introduced measures to support multinational corporations' regional headquarters and foreign-funded research and development centers, as well as policies encouraging foreign-invested enterprises to reinvest in the Chinese market.

In the first two months of 2026, Shanghai's total retail sales of consumer goods increased by 7.2 percent, and fixed asset investment rose by 7.4 percent. In the first quarter, total foreign trade rose by 21.9 percent.

In response to foreign companies' concerns about reinvestment, Shanghai launched 20 measures at the beginning of this year, covering project implementation, business facilitation, tax policy implementation, and investment promotion.

Some of the 15 newly added major foreign-invested projects have already benefited from these policies by making domestic reinvestment in new product lines, technological upgrades, or additional research and development centers.

Currently, Shanghai hosts nearly 80,000 foreign-funded enterprises, with cumulative foreign capital use exceeding $380 billion.

The city is also home to 1,091 regional headquarters of multinational corporations and 654 foreign-funded research and development centers.