Jiangsu province has issued a major three-year development blueprint designed to rapidly expand its commercial space industry, targeting an annual output value of 60 billion yuan ($8.4 billion) from key enterprises by 2028.
The directive, titled the "Jiangsu Province Action Plan for High-Quality Development of Commercial Space (2026–2028)," outlines an ambitious industrial roadmap across rocket manufacturing, satellite constellation construction, advanced materials, and orbital computing. Under the plan, the eastern coastal province aims to establish up to two provincial-level manufacturing innovation centers, build out testing and validation capabilities, and deploy roughly 50 commercial space application scenarios.
The policy specifically targets technical breakthroughs in heavy-lift and reusable launch vehicles. The provincial government will back major enterprises developing advanced liquid oxygen/kerosene and liquid oxygen/methane rocket engines to boost payload capacities while conducting experimental launches and recovery tests. To strengthen local manufacturing pipelines, Jiangsu is pushing for core technological advances across rocket structural, propulsion, and flight control subsystems, alongside high-performance composite materials and sensor components.
To support offshore operations, regional authorities are tasked with partnering with existing national launch sites to develop mobile sea-launch equipment, bolstering China's maritime launch capabilities.
Beyond hardware manufacturing, the action plan outlines a differentiated industrial cluster strategy across major municipalities. Cities including Nanjing, Wuxi, Changzhou, Suzhou, Nantong, Lianyungang, and Zhenjiang will leverage localized industrial strengths to host specialized manufacturing nodes. Suzhou, in particular, is slated to host complete rocket assembly facilities, alongside specialized production lines for satellite thermal control systems, power arrays, propulsion units, rocket propellant tanks, laser communication terminals, and optical remote sensing payloads.
The plan also emphasizes space-based digital infrastructure, encouraging research into "space-ground computing" architectures. Jiangsu will support joint research initiatives among computing, electrical, and thermal hardware providers to test domestic processing chips and servers in orbit. The province plans to build experimental space supercomputing centers to establish technical reserves for processing ground data in space.
To fund the expansion, Jiangsu is directing state mechanism support toward capital markets. The government will assist leading enterprises specializing in rocket assembly, satellite integration, and payloads to accelerate initial public offerings (IPOs). Specialized component suppliers in laser communications, satellite power, and telemetry will be groomed for national "Little Giant" enterprise designations. A provincial aerospace development task force has been established to coordinate across government departments and secure regulatory approvals from national ministries for launch permits, orbital frequency allocations, and major project approvals.
Jiangsu’s aggressive push into commercial space infrastructure carries direct national security implications. As the home of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Eastern Theater Command headquarters in Nanjing, the province serves as the central operational hub for Chinese military planning directed at Taiwan and the East China Sea. Dual-use technologies developed under Jiangsu's commercial space plan—such as satellite remote sensing, high-speed laser communications, sea-based mobile launch platforms, and orbital computing—feed directly into the PLA's regional reconnaissance, command, and control networks.
While labeled as "commercial" endeavors, all space ventures within mainland China operate under strict state oversight and ultimate military authority. Under China's system of civil-military fusion and state governance, commercial launch companies, satellite operators, and private component suppliers are subordinate to the strategic priorities of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Central Military Commission. Every commercial constellation, frequencies license, and orbital asset remains subject to immediate requisition and operational control by state defense institutions.