Beidou satellite navigation system stands as a vital space-based information infrastructure for China. On August 24, the General Office and the Department of Electronic Information of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) convened a media roundtable in Beijing dedicated to promoting the large-scale application of Beidou. Shi Huikang, Deputy Director of the MIIT's Department of Electronic Information, noted that in recent years, the MIIT has vigorously advanced the innovative development of the Beidou industry, continuously expanding its large-scale deployment across mass consumer markets, industrial manufacturing, and integrated innovation fields. By coordinating pilot programs, product promotion, standard refinement, and ecosystem construction, Beidou's broad-scale application has achieved phased progress.
Shi Huikang provided a detailed account of these achievements. First, the industry's supply capacity has been steadily reinforced. "We have focused on critical segments such as chips, modules, and terminals, supporting the R&D and industrialization of Beidou products with high precision, anti-interference capabilities, and low power consumption, thereby driving performance improvements and cost reductions," Shi said. By the end of 2025, cumulative shipments of domestically produced Beidou-compatible chips and modules had approached 2.6 billion units, while the total social inventory of various Beidou-enabled functional terminal products exceeded 2.2 billion units/sets. Consumer electronics like smartphones, smart wearables, and vehicle-mounted terminals have largely achieved standard Beidou positioning integration, with domestic smartphones supporting Beidou positioning accounting for over 98% of the market. In 2025, the overall output value of China's satellite navigation industry reached 629 billion yuan, marking a 9.24% year-on-year increase and underscoring the sector's growing resilience.
Second, the demonstration effects of city-level pilot programs have become increasingly apparent. "We have organized pilot initiatives for Beidou large-scale application in cities, with each leveraging its local industrial strengths to craft distinctive application scenarios, generating a suite of replicable and scalable practical cases," Shi Huikang explained. For instance, Chongqing has concentrated on automotive and communications sectors, Wuhan has delved into shared two-wheelers and smart wearables, and Zhuzhou has focused on smart business districts and rail transit applications. These 39 city pilots have delivered tangible outcomes in public mobility, urban governance, and industrial upgrades, transforming Beidou from a "constellation in the sky" into a "spatiotemporal foundation" serving urban development, while accumulating valuable experience for nationwide expansion.
Third, application scenarios across industries and for consumers are accelerating. Beidou has deeply integrated into myriad sectors, with the installed base of Beidou terminal equipment in key domestic industries nearing 40 million units/sets and the comprehensive application penetration rate in these sectors reaching approximately 90%. Its use continues to deepen in areas such as transportation, public safety, and smart agriculture. For everyday life, consumer scenarios like shared two-wheelers, smartwatches, and vehicle-based applications have become widespread, with over 160 million wearable devices supporting Beidou positioning and more than 100 million passenger cars equipped with Beidou vehicle-mounted positioning devices. Beidou has indeed entered countless households. Special features like Beidou short messaging are rapidly being adopted in consumer terminals, playing a unique role in emergency support, while "Beidou+" integrated new business models continue to emerge, unleashing industry vitality.
Furthermore, standards and the industrial ecosystem are gradually being refined. Efforts around Beidou products and application services have accelerated the improvement of standard frameworks, consistently filling gaps in the full-chain supply of standards covering chips, modules, terminals, system platforms, and service interfaces. The current tally of effective Beidou-related national, industry, and special standards exceeds 210, essentially spanning technology R&D, product manufacturing, testing and evaluation, and sector-specific applications. Shi Huikang noted that the number of domestic enterprises and institutions in the Beidou spatiotemporal field has surpassed 20,000, fostering a cohort of national-level specialized and innovative "little giant" firms and single-champion enterprises. Beidou-related invention patents have cumulatively exceeded 18,000, ranking among the top globally. Meanwhile, supporting capabilities in testing, metrology, intellectual property, and public service platforms have been strengthened, providing robust backing for the stable and sustained growth of Beidou's large-scale application.
Yu Jianshen, a third-level researcher from the Electronic Systems Division of the MIIT's Department of Electronic Information, stated that demand for spatiotemporal information in areas like smart cities, the low-altitude economy, and precision agriculture is exploding, making spatiotemporal information a foundational pillar for the integrated development of the digital and real economies. "To improve top-level design and strengthen policy guidance, we have drafted the 'Action Plan for Strengthening Supply-Demand Adaptation of Spatiotemporal Information Terminals and Promoting Integrated Applications,' which takes both the manufacturing side and the user end as focal points to bolster supply security and foster collaborative integration. It has completed internal and external consultation and is slated for issuance and implementation this year," Yu said.
The 15th Five-Year Plan explicitly calls for "strengthening the innovative application of the Beidou system," and in March this year, relevant ministries proposed driving the Beidou industry's scale to surpass 1 trillion yuan within five years. What is the MIIT's overarching approach to promoting Beidou's large-scale application during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, and what are the next steps for city pilot programs? In response, Yu Jianshen explained that during this period, the MIIT will collaborate with relevant parties, focusing on strengthening Beidou ecosystem development, further consolidating the foundation for Beidou innovation, continuing to support key technology breakthroughs and industrial applications, persistently advancing pilot cultivation for large-scale Beidou use, summarizing and promoting new technologies and models from Beidou's broad application, and accelerating Beidou's global expansion. Concurrently, leveraging Beidou's large-scale application as a basis, the MIIT will actively cultivate the spatiotemporal information industry, advancing the coordinated development of satellite positioning, navigation, timing, remote sensing, geographic information systems (GIS), communications, and satellite internet as an integrated whole.
"City pilot programs for Beidou large-scale application are a critical lever for expediting nationwide deployment," Yu Jianshen said. "We will continue to deepen pilot cultivation, broaden the scope and depth of Beidou applications, and initiate the second batch of city pilot cultivation at an appropriate time." On one front, this involves strengthening resource coordination and forming synergies with local governments, channeling innovative resources into the Beidou industry through policy, funding, and special programs to ignite enterprise momentum and spawn new Beidou technologies, products, and business models. On another front, the MIIT will intensify efforts to publicize and promote advanced pilot experiences, guide relevant industry associations in facilitating supply-demand matchmaking, accelerate the transformation of advanced technologies and the deployment of innovative applications, and amplify the societal reach and scale effects of Beidou's independent positioning capabilities.
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