China’s BeiDou satellite navigation system covers 90% of ‘key industry’ uses: ministry

China's BeiDou satellite navigation system has been integrated into approximately 90% of key industry applications across the nation, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. The ministry highlighted that the system's deep penetration in sectors such as transportation, public safety, and smart agriculture was expanding rapidly into consumer products, becoming standard in smartphones, wearables, and in-vehicle terminals.

As of the first half of the year, over 12 million BeiDou-enabled terminals were deployed in pilot cities, with more than 7.2 million used in consumer applications, 4.6 million in industrial manufacturing, and over 1 million in integrated innovation. A significant portion of the domestic mobile phone shipments in the first half of this year supported BeiDou positioning, with over 98% of the 133 million mobile phones supporting the system.

The ministry also reported that cumulative shipments of domestically made BeiDou-compatible chips and modules reached nearly 2.6 billion units, and over 2.2 billion BeiDou-enabled terminals and products were in use nationwide. While Beijing has established a dominant position in the Chinese market, the country is also striving for wider international adoption to provide an alternative to Western-led systems like GPS and Galileo.

The BeiDou system's recent comprehensive upgrade, which replaced older satellites with newer third-generation models and realigned orbital paths, will enhance global coverage. Currently, BeiDou's overseas users are primarily concentrated in Belt and Road Initiative countries, such as the Middle East for ship navigation and port scheduling, and Central Asia for agriculture and transport sectors.