On 28 July 2025 Shanghai issued Several Measures to Further Expand AI Applications, offering RMB 1 billion in special subsidy vouchers. What makes the design distinctive is that it subsidises the three core factors of AI production directly.
Three vouchers for three factors
Compute vouchers, RMB 600 million. These subsidise the cost of renting intelligent compute, with municipal support covering up to 30 per cent of the rent. Compute is the most rigid cost item in AI applications and the link where economies of scale form most readily.
Model vouchers, RMB 300 million. These subsidise large-model API calls or private deployment, up to RMB 5 million per company. They lower the threshold for companies to use model capability.
Corpus vouchers, RMB 100 million. These subsidise the purchase of corpora, up to RMB 5 million per company. High-quality data is the source of model performance and the foundation for a company’s own capability.
Together the three vouchers cover the full chain of compute, model and data. See our notes on the national integrated compute network and the action plan for high-quality industrial datasets.
Why vouchers beat direct grants
Compared with granting funds directly to selected companies, vouchers come closer to demand-side incentives: a company incurs real expenditure first and then offsets it with a voucher. That produces two effects — funding is tied to actual usage, avoiding money handed out without delivery, and the choice is left to the market, letting companies decide which compute or which model to use.
This tool works especially well while factor markets for compute and data are still immature, because it plays the role of both a price signal and market cultivation.
Contrast with Shenzhen’s route
Shenzhen emphasises opening government scenarios; Shanghai emphasises factor subsidies. See our note on the Shenzhen special fund for open government AI scenarios.
The two reflect different local judgments about the AI industry’s bottleneck: insufficient scenarios or excessive cost. In practice, most companies need both.
How companies can make good use of the three vouchers
First, distinguish eligible from ineligible expenditure, designing procurement and contracts around the vouchers’ scope from the outset.
Second, factor subsidies into cost modelling, avoiding a pricing model that becomes unsustainable once the subsidy ends.
Third, watch the compliance requirements for claiming and writing off, since subsidy funds usually come with scope-of-use and audit duties. See our note on the opinion on data circulation service institutions.
The deeper meaning of factor subsidies is that the government judges the competition in AI to be a competition in factor costs. Lowering the cost of compute, models and data is lowering the innovation threshold for the whole industry. See our note on the Shanghai open-source ecosystem plan.
This article is based on public information on Shanghai’s Several Measures to Further Expand AI Applications and is for reference only; it does not constitute legal advice.