Tu Guangshao: Opportunistic Capital Cannot Sustain the AI Race; Tech Capital Urgently Needs to Fill the Gap
Tu Guangshao, former member of the Standing Committee of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee and former executive vice mayor of the Shanghai Municipal Government, said at the 2026 Third "Technology Industry and Finance Coordinated Development Forum" that the global economy has entered the "era of technology capital." China's technological development does not lack money; what it lacks is technology capital capable of bearing risk, investing for the long term, and empowering sci-tech innovation enterprises and industries. He pointed out that AI development requires sustained, long-term, massive capital investment rather than short-term opportunistic funds, and that there is a time lag in translating AI technological innovation into commercial returns; insufficient capital matching may lead to weak staying power in technological development. He also mentioned that technology capital suffers from insufficient diversity of participants and relatively single channels, and that multiple participants such as banks, securities firms, insurers, and venture capital need to be integrated to build a full-chain ecosystem.
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What exactly is lacking in technological innovation? On October 23, at the 2026 Third "Technology-Industry-Finance Collaborative Development Forum," Tu Guangshao, former Standing Committee member of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee and former Executive Vice Mayor of the Shanghai Municipal Government, gave the answer: a lack of "technology capital."
At the meeting, Tu Guangshao stated that the global economy has officially entered the "era of technology capital," and that China's technological development does not lack money—what it lacks is technology capital. Unlike simple funding supply, technology capital must possess three characteristics: it must be able to bear risk, be able to invest over the long term, and also empower sci-tech innovation enterprises and industries.
Taking the field of artificial intelligence as an example, Tu Guangshao analyzed that behind the global AI innovation competition is in fact also competition in technology finance and capital strength. Current AI development faces two challenges: first, it requires sustained, long-term, massive capital investment rather than short-term opportunistic funding; second, there is a time lag in translating AI technological innovation into commercial returns, creating a gap between long-term investment and investment returns. If capital matching is insufficient, technological development may show a lack of staying power.
Speaking of development shortcomings, Tu Guangshao mentioned that in recent years, progress has been made in the development of technology capital, but there remains a "shortcoming" of insufficient diversity of entities and relatively single channels. It is necessary to proceed from the strategic height of technological innovation, fill the "shortcomings" in key links such as capital formation, circulation, and exit, and build a full-chain, multi-level technology capital ecosystem.
Tu Guangshao also mentioned that technology finance cannot "advance as a single force"; only by forming an ecosystem can sustainability be achieved. This requires integrating diverse entities such as banks, securities firms, insurers, and venture capital to build a multi-level, full-coverage collaborative network and achieve efficient interconnection of resources among all parties.
Tu Guangshao emphasized that the integration of technology and finance is not simple splicing; rather, it is necessary to break down industry barriers and form a two-way cycle in which "technology empowers finance and finance nourishes technology in return."
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