During global industrial chain restructuring and the advancement of China’s 15th Five-Year Plan, building world class industrial clusters has become a core task for Shanghai to enhance its global industrial competitiveness and lead the development of new-quality productive forces. Starting from the basic theory of industrial clusters, this paper systematically sorts out the connotation and characteristics of world-class industrial clusters, analyzes Shanghai’s foundational conditions for building such clusters, and proposes implementable path plans from four dimensions: implementing gradient cultivation, deepening the integration of scientific and technological innovation with industrial innovation, fostering first class enterprises, and advancing regional collaboration. Furthermore, it suggests safeguarding Shanghai’s industrial clusters to leap from scale leadership to quality leadership by strengthening policy coordination, improving governance efficiency, and preventing risks, ultimately building world-class industrial clusters with global discourse power.