China’s commercial space sector soars with 50 launches in 2025

China’s commercial space sector logged 50 launches last year – more than half of the country’s total – underscoring the growing role of private players alongside the state-led space programme, with Beijing highlighting aerospace as a strategic industry.

Commercial launches accounted for 54 per cent of the country’s total in 2025, according to data released on Tuesday by the China National Space Administration (CNSA).

Of the total, 25 launches were carried out by commercial launch vehicles. Hainan commercial space launch site – China’s first commercial facility, which entered operation in late 2024 – conducted nine. In all, 311 commercial satellites were placed into orbit last year, representing 84 per cent of China’s total satellite deployments, according to the CNSA.

“China’s commercial space sector is nearing a turning point, shifting from a phase of policy incubation towards one of industrial-scale expansion,” Sinolink Securities said in a recent research note, citing progress in satellite constellation deployment, advances in reusable launch technologies and mounting competitive pressure from US players led by SpaceX.

The brokerage also highlighted the setting up of a commercial space department under the CNSA late last year, alongside the release of the Action Plan for Promoting the High-Quality and Secure Development of Commercial Space from 2025 to 2027.

China’s commercial space industry, which has more than 600 players, was valued at between 2.5 trillion yuan (US$350 billion) and 2.8 trillion yuan in 2025, with a compound annual growth rate exceeding 20 per cent, according to a report released at the Commercial Space Development Conference in Beijing in December.