"First Stock in Commercial Spaceflight" suspense rises again

Hard-tech companies such as semiconductor, robotics, and commercial space companies are continuing to pour into the capital markets. On the evening of March 31, Zhongke Yuahang Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Zhongke Yuahang”) had its Sci-Tech Innovation Board (STAR Market) IPO application accepted by the Shanghai Stock Exchange. The company also officially began competing with Blue Arrow Aerospace for the title of the “No. 1 commercial space stock.” Worth noting is that the very next day after the IPO was accepted—on April 1—the company was selected for an on-site inspection. In this push to go public, Zhongke Yuahang’s annual revenue has seen successive and significant growth, but as of the first three quarters of 2025, the company’s net profit is still in the red. From the perspective of the industry as a whole, besides the two companies mentioned above, multiple other commercial space companies have also launched processes for listing guidance at present.

The battle for the “first stock” begins

After the Shanghai Stock Exchange accepted Zhongke Yuahang’s STAR Market IPO application on March 31, the China Securities Association’s website disclosed on the evening of April 1 the list of selected companies for on-site inspections for the second batch of initial public offering (IPO) enterprises in 2026. The company was selected for an on-site inspection.

As far as is known, Zhongke Yuahang is mainly engaged in the R&D, production, and launch services of a series of medium- and large-sized commercial launch vehicles, while also expanding into new space-economy business formats such as space manufacturing, space science experiments, and space tourism. For this listing effort, the company plans to raise about RMB 4.18 billion. After deducting issuance expenses, the net proceeds are planned to be invested in reusable medium- and large-sized launch-vehicle R&D projects, reusable launch-vehicle and spacecraft R&D projects, a reusable liquid-rocket-engine industrial base, repaying bank loans, and supplementing working capital.

Worth noting is that on the day before its IPO application was accepted—on the evening of March 30—Zhongke Yuahang’s Lijian-2 Yao-Yi (Lijian-2) medium? launch vehicle Yao-Yi Carrying Rocket · International Textile City (Dongfeng) Number was successfully launched at the Dongfeng Commercial Space Innovation Test Zone, delivering the first-flight prototype spacecraft (New Journey 02 satellite), the New Journey 01 satellite, and the Tian Shi satellite 01 precisely into their planned orbits. As known, the Lijian-2 is China’s first launch vehicle with the “core common booster” configuration. It has advantages including large payload capacity, high inherent reliability, strong manufacturability, simpler and more convenient operations, strong expansion potential, and reusability.

Behind this push to go public, Zhongke Yuahang’s net profit during the reporting period was still loss-making. The prospectus shows that in 2022–2024 and the first three quarters of 2025, the company’s operating revenue was approximately RMB 5.9529 million, RMB 77.72M, RMB 244 million, and RMB 84.2239 million, respectively; corresponding attributable net profits were approximately RMB -1.76B, RMB -512 million, RMB -861 million, and RMB -749 million, respectively.

Zhongke Yuahang told Beijing Business Today (Beijing Business) that in the future, by listing in the capital markets, the company will accelerate core technology R&D and mass-production capability building, strengthen its core competitiveness through steady operations, and return long-term value to investors.

With the acceptance of Zhongke Yuahang’s IPO, the company will also begin competing with Blue Arrow Aerospace for the “No. 1 commercial space stock.”

Judging from Blue Arrow Aerospace’s path toward going public, the Shanghai Stock Exchange website shows that its STAR Market IPO was accepted on December 31, 2025, and entered the inquiry stage on January 22, 2026. On March 31, 2026, Blue Arrow Aerospace’s IPO was suspended because the financial materials recorded in the application documents for issuance and listing had passed their effective period and required supplementary submission.

Who are the “back-up” candidates after the listing guidance

Both Blue Arrow Aerospace and Zhongke Yuahang have had their IPO applications accepted back-to-back, which is only a snapshot of the current listing-driven boom in the commercial space sector. With the continued improvement of the policy framework in the capital markets for the commercial space industry, more commercial space enterprises are launching efforts to go public.

From a policy perspective, in June 2025, the STAR Market introduced the “1+6” reform measures, clearly stating support for more frontier technology areas such as commercial space, and that enterprises in these areas can apply the fifth set of listing standards of the STAR Market. In December of the same year, the Shanghai Stock Exchange further released major favorable news by issuing the “Guiding Opinions No. 9 on the Implementation of the Shanghai Stock Exchange’s Rules for Issuance and Listing Review—Applicable Fifth Listing Standards for Commercial Rocket Enterprises.” This provided more detailed provisions on the applicability of the STAR Market’s fifth set of listing standards for commercial rocket enterprises across seven aspects, including business scope and requirements related to “hard-tech” attributes, achievement and eligibility standards, industry position, and phased results.

With these policy tailwinds, the lineup of “back-up” firms in China’s A-share commercial space sector continues to expand.

To date, commercial rocket companies such as Xinghe Power and Interstellar Glory are all in the listing guidance stage. Among them, Interstellar Glory started the listing guidance as early as 2020; this year, in January, it disclosed its report on progress of the twenty-second期 listing guidance work.

In the commercial satellite sector, the upsurge in companies pushing to go public is heating up in parallel. On the evening of March 30, the China Securities Regulatory Commission’s website showed that Galaxy Space started listing guidance. It is understood that the company is a satellite internet solution provider and a satellite manufacturer, committed to the independent R&D and low-cost mass production of communications payloads, core unit equipment, and satellite platforms.

Before that, enterprises such as MicroNano Starry Sky and Yixin Aerospace had also already launched listing guidance processes.

Commercial space industrialization accelerates

“A wave of commercial space IPO heat is the result of both improving industry maturity and joint promotion from capital market reforms.” Looking ahead, Zhou Di, an entrepreneurship mentor at the China Technology Consulting Association, told Beijing Business Today that in the future, the timetable for corporate listings will gradually speed up. However, companies may still face bottlenecks such as technological iteration risks, long profitability cycles, valuation reasonableness, and insufficient commercial verification of launch and network-formation.

When interviewed by Beijing Business Today, Zhongke Yuahang stated that as a national strategic high-tech industry, commercial space has become an important marker for measuring a country’s comprehensive national strength, as a new high ground in competition among major countries. Major countries generally regard commercial space as an important component of overall national strength, and the strategic role of commercial space is increasingly prominent.

In recent years, China’s layout for commercial space has continued to expand. In 2025, the National Space Administration released, one after another, the “Notice on Strengthening Quality Supervision and Management of Commercial Space Projects” and the “Action Plan for Promoting High-Quality and Safe Development of Commercial Space (2025–2027),” and at year-end it established a Commercial Space Bureau to continuously drive high-quality development of commercial space.

“Over recent years, the new or revised laws, regulations, and industry policies related to commercial space in China are intended to clarify the strategic position of the commercial space industry and provide support from multiple aspects including fiscal, taxation, technology, and talent. The establishment and improvement of industry policy laws and regulations provide key safeguards and strong momentum for the business development of commercial space enterprises.” Zhongke Yuahang said.

Riding on these series of policy tailwinds, the industrialization process in the commercial space sector is accelerating in sync.

“Our commercial space has entered a stage of large-scale development. The industrial chain is gradually improving. Policy has shifted from encouraging development to regulating and improving quality. Dedicated departments have been set up to strengthen oversight and services—drawing a safety baseline and clarifying development paths for the industry. In the long term, it will promote orderly, high-quality expansion of the industry, with broad prospects.” Zhou Di said.

“Over the next three years, deployments of satellite internet constellations will hit a peak.” Guo Tao, an angel investor and senior artificial intelligence expert, told Beijing Business Today that however, to achieve large-scale commercialization, the industry still needs to break through key bottlenecks such as bringing per-satellite costs down to the tens of thousands scale, and increasing launch frequency to around once per week.

Zhongke Yuahang also told Beijing Business Today that various laws and policies provide a favorable policy environment for the company’s business development. With the gradual advancement of China’s planned mega low-earth-orbit satellite constellations over the next 5–10 years and the continued development of China’s private commercial launch vehicle companies, China’s commercial launch-vehicle market will enter a rapid development cycle. The company is expected to benefit from the encouragement and support of relevant policies, and in the future it will achieve continuous and rapid development of its business.

Beijing Business Today reporter: Wang Manlei