China’s rocket boom turns Hainan into a space hub. Can launches fuel wider growth?
As technological developments augur an era of renewed space exploration, China is aiming to become a major player. In the first part of this two-part series, Wency Chen and Mia Nurmamat examine how Hainan province is betting on a growing aerospace cluster to rewrite its economic playbook beyond tourism. On Hainan’s northeastern coast, launch towers rise abruptly from a flat landscape of coconut…
China aims to become a prominent player in the global space industry, and the southern island province of Hainan is betting on a burgeoning aerospace cluster to diversify its economy beyond tourism. Wenchang, on Hainan's northeastern coast, is emerging as a key launch hub for rockets. At Pad 1 of the commercial spaceport, an 83-meter service tower stands surrounded by protective steel lattice towers.
Launches have commenced, with the Wenchang Space Launch Site staging its first in 2016, primarily focusing on lunar exploration and human space flight. Nearby, the Hainan Commercial Space Launch Site, China's first dedicated commercial platform, has completed 21 launches since its November 2024 inauguration, sending 221 satellites into orbit.
Plans are underway to construct additional launch pads and facilities to accommodate larger rockets and recover rockets at sea. Hainan's geographical advantage lies in its coastal location, allowing sea delivery of massive rockets and benefiting from the Earth's rotation for added momentum. However, the island's heavy industrial base is lacking, necessitating the import of specialised hardware and construction materials.
Despite challenges, Hainan is working to transform launch sites into the nucleus of a wider industrial ecosystem. Revenue at Wenchang International Aerospace City surged 85% in 2025, reaching 23.53 billion yuan, while manufacturing output from its rocket supply chain more than doubled to over 8 billion yuan. The province aims to raise annual operating revenue at Wenchang's aerospace cluster to 10 billion yuan by 2027, building an integrated supply chain spanning rockets, satellites, and data services.
Hainan's strategy includes pushing up the industrial chain, constructing a super factory to produce up to 1,000 satellites annually, and establishing a special bonded zone for satellite data to leverage its free-trade policies and attract overseas data.
Written by urgent.news from South China Morning Post's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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