China’s Satellite Navigation Industry Valued at $80 Billion in 2024

Beijing: China's satellite-enabled navigation and positioning services industry reached an estimated value of 576 billion yuan (US$80 billion) in 2024, marking a year-on-year growth of 7.39 percent, according to an industry white paper released on Sunday. According to Emirates News Agency, the 2025 White Paper on the Development of China's Satellite Navigation and Positioning Industries, compiled by the Global Navigation Satellite System and Location-Based Services Association of China, stated that the combined output of chips, equipment, software, data, and infrastructure totaled 170 billion yuan, up 5.46 percent from the previous year. Approximately 410 million terminal devices with satellite-based navigation and positioning features were sold in China in 2024, including around 294 million smartphones and over 20 million vehicle-mounted devices. By the end of the year, over 2 billion devices, such as smartphones and computers, on the Chinese mainland were capable of using China's Beidou navigation and po sitioning service. Nearly 1 million people are employed at about 20,000 domestic institutes and companies engaged in Beidou and other satellite-based navigation and positioning services, according to the white paper. Since 2000, a total of 64 Beidou satellites have been launched aboard 47 Long March 3-series rockets from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in Sichuan province. Currently, more than 50 Beidou satellites are in active service, operating in multiple types of orbits.