City reveals intelligent infrastructure plans

Shanghai plans to invest at least 270 billion yuan (US$38.6 billion) in three years on intelligent and new infrastructure construction to boost the city's innovation and economic development and improve its urban management level, local government officials said on Thursday.

By 2022, the city will have over 100 autonomous factories or production lines featuring the latest artificial intelligence applications; 150,000 enterprises on cloud; more 5G base stations offering wide coverage and download speeds up to 500 megabits per second (mbps); more Internet data centers (IDC) supporting cloud and artificial intelligence applications, more roads and spaces supporting driverless vehicle tests; an additional 100,000 charger poles for new energy vehicles and 18,000 new smart lockers supporting online shopping and e-commerce, according to a three-year new infrastructure blueprint.

“It will create new demand and cultivate new energy for Shanghai, to accelerate the construction of a modern industrial system and create a new engine for high-quality economic development,” said Ma Chunlei, deputy secretary-general of the Shanghai government.

The blueprint includes 48 projects with an expected investment of 270 billion yuan. Of the total, just 60 billion yuan will come from the government budget, leaving huge space for private investment, Ma said.

This year, Shanghai will invest 10 billion yuan in 5G to cover the whole city, with an average download speed of 200 mbps. In places like exhibition centers and airports, the 5G download speed will hit 500 mbps, said Zhang Jianming, deputy director of the city’s economy and information technology commission.

Shanghai will build more IDCs to support the digital economy and meet demand from Internet giants and mobile carriers, Zhang added.

Shanghai plans to build an additional 100,000 charger poles to support new energy cars. It will also push tests and research on autonomous driving, offering space for tests in Lingang Area. It also plans to add more AI features in the management of highways, airports and ports.

More smart lockers and autonomous retail outlets will be built.

The city is also building China’s first professional and smart cross-border port in Lingang in the free trade zone, due to open by the end of the year.

Gong Zheng, the city’s acting mayor, met Huawei’s chairman Liang Hua to discuss intelligent infrastructure cooperation.

Currently, Shanghai has the country’s leading information infrastructure, covering national science projects, smart city, next-generation networks (including 5G), Internet data centers and other infrastructure, said Ma.