A space unicorn emerges from Wuxi, Jiangsu: A veteran develops satellite components and ranks first in the country.

In the storm of the South Pacific, the satellite phone of an ocean - going fishing vessel suddenly went silent. Across 60% of the world's oceans and 30% of its landmass, communication networks remain in a state of "digital darkness." These scenarios play out in reality all the time.

Isolated islands at sea, remote mountainous areas, emergency front - lines, and even the far reaches of deep space have sparked the application scenarios for commercial spaceflight. Recently, a super unicorn emerged in Wuxi, Jiangsu: Yixin Space, which has officially initiated IPO counseling.

Its main focus is on satellite components, such as communication payloads, measurement and control, and data transmission products. From 2021 to 2023, Yixin Space raised funds in five rounds, with investors including Wuxi Venture Capital and Qingzhou Capital.

Public data shows that in the past two years (2023 - 2024), its market share in the domestic commercial low - orbit communication satellite payload field was 63.6% and 85.7% respectively.

The news of Yixin Space initiating IPO counseling is like a stone thrown into a lake, allowing us to glimpse the undercurrents in this multi - billion - dollar track: networks in remote areas, ocean communication, space tourism, space resource development...

01

The founder of Yixin Space is Sun Qian, who served in military academies for over 20 years, mainly engaged in teaching and research on satellite communication. After leaving the military, he founded Yixin Space in 2018, providing communication payloads, measurement and control, and data transmission products for microsatellites.

The core of the products solves several major problems for satellites: 1. Data transmission; 2. Instruction reception; 3. Status monitoring. The main customers are satellite operators, scientific research institutions, and enterprises that require satellite communication support.

In the five years since its establishment, Yixin Space has equipped more than fifty satellites with over a hundred core electronic devices.

The rise of Yixin Space is closely related to the trend of domestic substitution.

For a long time, in the field of satellite communication, domestic enterprises have been quite dependent on foreign products. Imported foreign equipment is extremely expensive. For example, the procurement price of a commonly used on - board communication terminal from a well - known foreign brand is 5 - 10 times that of domestic basic products of the same type.

Once the equipment malfunctions, the response period is long. When a malfunction occurs, cross - border communication and coordination, and waiting for foreign technicians to come to China for repairs often take several months, seriously affecting the satellite operation process.

As for domestic traditional products, their performance is limited.

For example, in terms of communication bandwidth, traditional products can only support a communication bandwidth of 10Mbps - 50Mbps. When transmitting large amounts of data, such as high - definition remote sensing image data back - transmission or large - scale Internet of Things data collection, the transmission speed is slow and the efficiency is low.

In terms of power consumption, the power consumption of traditional on - board communication terminals is generally between 10W - 20W. High power consumption means that satellites need to be equipped with larger - capacity batteries and more efficient energy systems.

Yixin Space has solved these problems to a certain extent.

Taking its on - board measurement and control communication products as an example, by using new materials and optimizing circuit design, the product volume has been reduced by 30% - 50% compared with traditional equipment, saving internal space on the satellite.

It has also achieved results in low power consumption. Its products have reduced power consumption to 3W - 8W. In terms of communication bandwidth, Yixin Space's products can reach a communication bandwidth of 100Mbps - 500Mbps, meeting the demand for high - speed transmission of a certain amount of large - scale data.

02

According to relevant data, in recent years, the global commercial spaceflight market has exceeded tens of billions of dollars, and it is expected that the growth rate will reach about 10% - 15% in the next few years.

Current new opportunities are mainly concentrated in several scenarios: network coverage in remote areas, ocean communication, emergency communication, space tourism, and space resource development.

When it comes to networks in remote areas, a key fact is that 39% of countries around the world are still using 4G networks.

ITU data from 2023 shows that 5G networks cover nearly 40% of the global population, but low - income countries still mainly rely on 3G, and 4G only covers 39% of the population in low - income countries. The urban - rural gap is obvious, with the urban networking rate being 1.6 times that of rural areas, and about 2.6 billion people remaining offline.

Even in the United States, in 2020, 22.3% of the rural population and 1.5% of the urban population lacked fixed - broadband coverage of 25/3Mbps. The cost of satellite Internet connection is independent of terrain, and it has a wide coverage area. After achieving economies of scale, it has a price advantage in remote areas.

The situation of ocean communication is somewhat similar. The vast expanse of the world's oceans makes it difficult for traditional terrestrial communication networks to cover.

For example, ships at sea, explorers in the desert, and residents in remote mountainous areas can all access the Internet through low - orbit satellite Internet and enjoy high - speed Internet services.

In the Philippines and Indonesia, there are approximately 2,000 and 6,000 inhabited islands respectively. Laying submarine optical fibers between the islands is difficult to achieve and is prone to damage due to accidents or natural events. Satellite Internet can solve the communication problem on the islands.

In emergency communication, once a natural disaster occurs, terrestrial base stations are prone to paralysis. The rapid deployment ability of low - orbit satellite Internet can provide timely support for rescue work.

In natural disasters such as earthquakes and typhoons, when terrestrial base stations are paralyzed, low - orbit satellites can quickly establish an emergency communication network, and the communication recovery efficiency during the golden rescue period of emergency relief is expected to increase by 300%.

Space tourism and space resource development represent more long - term emerging demands. As of 2025, more than 130 non - professional astronauts around the world have entered space, but there has not yet been a Chinese - nationality space tourist.

Regarding space resource development, it is still in the scientific research stage of exploration and transportation.

In 2024, the global space mining market was worth approximately $1.99 billion, and it is expected to reach $16.3 billion by 2037, with an annual growth rate of 19.13%.

SpaceX's "Starship" has reduced the transportation cost to a few thousand dollars per kilogram, making large - scale resource return possible. China's "Chang'e 5" lunar soil research has discovered key substances for capturing helium - 3, laying the foundation for future lunar resource development.

03

In recent years, commercial spaceflight has also held a high national status.

In 2025, the government work report for the first time positioned commercial spaceflight as a "new growth engine" and clearly required "promoting the safe and healthy development of emerging industries such as commercial spaceflight."

This move marks that commercial spaceflight has been officially upgraded from technological exploration to a national strategic industry.

From a top - level design perspective, since it was first mentioned in the government work report in 2024, policies in 2025 have further focused on "technological autonomy" and "scenario scale - up."

Against this background, more than ten provinces, including Beijing and Shanghai, have introduced special support plans and established multi - billion - dollar industrial funds.

For example, the Beijing Economic - Technological Development Area is building the "Beijing Rocket Street" - a common scientific research and production base for commercial spaceflight, and has established an innovation center for reusable rocket technology.

In 2023, Shanghai released the "Action Plan for Promoting the Development of Commercial Spaceflight and Building a High - ground for Space Information Industry in Shanghai (2023 - 2025)", aiming to strengthen the integrated development of satellite communication, navigation, and remote sensing and promote the integrated fusion of space - air - ground information networks by 2025, focusing on aspects such as satellite manufacturing, launch vehicles, and ground - system equipment.

This article is from the WeChat public account "Pencil News" (ID: pencilnews), author: Aiyu, published by 36Kr with authorization.