As the main carrying area of ”Southern Arrow” in the “Southern Arrow and North Star” industrial pattern, why can Beijing Yizhuang become the highland of the rocket industry? How is it deeply integrated with commercial rockets and attracting many companies to take root and develop here?
Today let’s talk about: China’s top 10 commercial aerospace industry clusters in 2025—Beijing Yizhuang Commercial Rocket Industry Cluster.
1
Beijing Yizhuang
Beijing Economic and Technological Development Zone, referred to as “Beijing Yizhuang”, is the only national-level economic and technological development zone in Beijing. As one of the earliest areas for commercial aerospace deployment, as early as 1998, due to its close proximity to the China Launch Vehicle Research Institute, known as the “Whampoa Military Academy” for Chinese aerospace talents, China Rockets, one of the representatives of the aerospace “national team”, was the first to settle here, laying a solid foundation for Yizhuang to become the core area of ”Southern Arrow”. In 2015, the “National Civilian Space Infrastructure Medium and Long-term Development Plan (2015-2025)” was released, which for the first time proposed to encourage social capital to enter the aerospace field. In June of the same year, Yizhuang welcomed the first private launch vehicle company, Blue Arrow Aerospace, which kicked off the accelerated gathering of private rocket companies here. In the following years, a number of well-known domestic private rocket companies, including Interstellar Glory, Deep Blue Aerospace, Galaxy Power, and Oriental Space, successively settled here, and Yizhuang gradually developed into one of the densest industrial clusters for commercial rockets in China.
2
Industrial agglomeration
As the core highland of China’s commercial rocket, Yizhuang’s enterprise agglomeration effect is extremely significant. According to statistics from “Nihao Space”, there are currently 23 active commercial rocket companies in my country, of which 13 have their headquarters or branches settled in Yizhuang, accounting for 57%, showing their strong attraction in the national commercial rocket landscape. It is worth mentioning that among the eight commercial rocket companies in the country that have launched into orbit, six are located in Yizhuang, accounting for 75%. On this basis, Yizhuang has gathered more than 160 aerospace companies, including more than 70 national high-tech companies and more than 600 aerospace ecological companies, and the industrial ecosystem has begun to take shape. The zone also has 5 unicorn companies, 6 listed companies, and 12 companies selected into the top 100 commercial aerospace companies in China, forming a high-quality corporate echelon. As of 2024, the scale of the Yizhuang aerospace industry has exceeded 35 billion yuan. The “Yizhuang Arrow” has been launched 13 times throughout the year, successfully sending more than 60 satellites into predetermined orbits. Advanced launch modes such as one rocket for multiple satellites, land and sea concurrent, and satellite-rocket coordination have been put into normal operation in Yizhuang, fully demonstrating the region’s strong system integration capabilities and efficient industrial organization.
3
Aerospace Industrial Park
At present, Yizhuang’s aerospace industry is mainly concentrated within the 2 kilometers from Disheng South Street to Ronghua South Road, which is called “Rocket Street” in the industry. It has gathered areas such as launch vehicles, hypersonic vehicles, rocket engines, satellite manufacturing, satellite applications, model matching, ground equipment, technology applications, etc. It is the most integrated rocket industry corridor in Beijing and even the country. In September 2023, the “Beijing Implementation Plan for Promoting Future Industrial Innovation and Development” was released, proposing to focus on developing subdivided industries such as commercial aerospace and satellite networks in economic development zones and other areas. Yizhuang takes advantage of the situation to upgrade and plans to build three bases, Beijing Rocket Street, Space Street, and Satellite Internet Industrial Park, to build a complete space industry chain with integrated development of “rocket + satellite + network”. So far, dozens of companies have expressed their intention to enter Rocket Street, covering multiple subdivisions such as rocket assembly, satellite manufacturing, remote sensing, communications, and navigation. The cluster effect is continuing to be released.
4
technological breakthrough
Behind Yizhuang’s intensive rocket industry layout are the continuous breakthroughs of various enterprises in key core technologies. In recent years, from the independent development of liquid engines to the reusability of entire rockets, from a new generation of liquid power systems to low-cost, fast-response launch platforms, Yizhuang is becoming an important source of innovation in China’s commercial rocket technology. Among them, breakthroughs in reusable rocket technology have become a key direction for Yizhuang enterprises to build core competitiveness. In 2025, 7 recyclable rockets are expected to make their first flights, of which 5 are the “Yizhuang Arrow”. In 2023, Blue Arrow Aerospace completed the world’s first liquid oxygen methane rocket into orbit, becoming China’s landmark breakthrough in new propulsion systems. In September 2024, it completed the 10-kilometer-level vertical takeoff and landing test of the “Suzaku-3” reusable rocket; from January to March 2023, China Aerospace launched land launch and recovery and sea recovery one after another; 2 From November to December 2023, Interstellar Glory completed the first domestic vertical take-off and landing test of a full-size sub-stage of a liquid rocket, and completed China’s first reusable rocket reuse flight in a short period of time; Deep Blue Aerospace has also continued to promote the recovery flight test of the “Thunder” series engines and rocket bodies since 2021, verifying a number of key technologies.
5
policy support
The reason why Yizhuang has become the first choice for commercial rocket companies not only relies on its location and industrial foundation, but also relies on continued policy support. Whether it is industrial support, talent protection or capital investment, Yizhuang and Beijing have worked together in multiple dimensions to build a powerful development guarantee system. The following is a summary of representative policies and funds in Yizhuang and Beijing:
6
Industrial collaboration
Yizhuang is continuously strengthening its collaborative innovation capabilities among enterprises, governments and enterprises, and upstream and downstream of the industrial chain to build a rocket industry ecosystem with system integration capabilities. In September 2024, the Zhongguancun Yichuang Commercial Aerospace Alliance was officially established in Yizhuang. It was initiated by Yizhuang Star Arrow Company. The first batch of members includes 39 companies including Zhongke Aerospace, Blue Arrow Aerospace, and Galaxy Power. The alliance adheres to “government guidance and enterprise leadership” and focuses on the open sharing of aerospace manufacturing infrastructure and resources. So far, it has attracted more than 170 member units, covering 14 provinces and cities across the country, covering the entire commercial aerospace industry chain from rockets, satellites to launch services, and has initially formed a coordinated development pattern of “a national game of chess”. In September 2024, the Beijing Reusable Rocket Innovation Center completed its physical registration in Yizhuang. It was led by Yizhuang Star Arrow Company and jointly established by Blue Arrow Aerospace, China Science and Technology Aerospace, and Galaxy Power. The innovation center will focus on the “stuck neck” problem of reusable rockets, focus on the key common links of reusable rockets, and carry out technological and product innovation breakthroughs. Through the sharing of test equipment resources, the overall R&D efficiency is expected to increase by more than 30%. In May 2025, seven departments including the State Administration of Financial Supervision jointly issued “Several Policy Measures to Accelerate the Construction of a Science and Technology Financial System to Strongly Support High-level Science and Technology Self-reliance and Self-reliance”, which clearly proposed to explore the use of mutual insurance to carry out science and technology insurance risk protection in key areas, and carry out risk diversification pilots such as major technological research, pilot trials, and network security. On May 21, the China Aerospace Lijian-1 Yao-7 carrier rocket, the first project of the mutual insurance service, was launched at the Dongfeng Commercial Aerospace Innovation Test Zone. By building a trinity system of “innovation platform + collaborative mechanism + financial tools”, Yizhuang is building an industrial collaborative ecosystem of efficient linkage, resource sharing, and win-win results, injecting lasting development momentum into the commercial rocket industry cluster.
7
future development
Standing on the solid foundation of the “South Arrow” core area, Beijing Yizhuang Commercial Rocket Industry Cluster is developing towards the goal of “Stars and Arrows Integrated” and is committed to creating a commercial aerospace innovation highland and industry benchmark with global influence. The following is a timetable for its future development goals: At the same time, special parks such as Sky Street and Beijing Rocket Street will be fully operational, connecting the entire chain of research, launch, and application, forming a highly collaborative space industry network. With the resonance of policy, technology and capital, Yizhuang is becoming an important starting point for China’s commercial rocket to go global.
