The first batch of at least 15 Chinese and international companies have decided to set up offices in a new specialized artificial intelligence zone in Shanghai's Zhangjiang Science City, said Yuan Tao, chairman of Shanghai Zhangjiang Group, the operator of the zone.

The pioneer batch of companies include global organizations and local startup firms such as Microsoft, Alibaba, CloudWalk Technology and a research facility affiliated to Tongji University.

Known as the AIsland, the zone is also in talks with another five companies that are considering whether to take advantage of the park's economies of scale.

Yuan said that the profile of these companies would help AIsland achieve its goal of becoming a "pioneering area that leads the national AI pack" by the end of this year.

Covering 66,000 square meters, AIsland is presently home to 31 AI applications such as security and protection, voice recognition and deep learning, which are powered by a pilot fifth-generation mobile network. It is also part of the government's first slate of measures to bolster the development of AI in the city.