An action plan on accelerating next-generation intelligent manufacturing was launched by the Shanghai municipal government on Oct 12, which is expected to make the city home to 500 advanced intelligent factories and raise the city's robot density to 600 robots per 10,000 employees by 2028.

Launched at the opening ceremony of the China International Industry Fair, the plan sets clear targets for 2028, including making intelligent factories available in all key manufacturing enterprises across the city and widely adopting artificial intelligence in these factories.

Specifically, 500 advanced intelligent factories will be developed, more than 2,000 AI-empowered manufacturing scenarios will be in operation, and new infrastructure facilities will be available to meet the needs of next-generation intelligent manufacturing, the plan said.

The action plan also elaborated on its goals of raising the city's robot density, a key gauge for measuring the adoption of automation in manufacturing, to 600 per 10,000 employees by 2028.

Meanwhile, as many as 8,000 humanoid robots will be deployed in factories by 2028, pushing the industry scale of AI-empowered new intelligent manufacturing equipment beyond 200 billion yuan ($29.89 billion) and expanding the intelligent manufacturing system integration industry to 100 billion yuan.

Up to 300 products are set to make their debut at this year's China International Industry Fair, which is currently running until Oct 16.

Now in its 26th edition, the fair would occupy an exhibition area of 310,000 square meters and is expected to attract more than 3,000 enterprises and over 250,000 professional visitor trips, all reaching record highs.