HELSINKI - Hongqing Technology, the satellite-building sibling of launch company Landspace, has secured one of the largest single funding rounds for a Chinese commercial satellite maker, because why stop at a few dozen satellites when you can have 10,000?
The funding round, announced July 2, raised more than 1.3 billion yuan ($191 million), bringing Hongqing’s total haul to over 2.5 billion yuan ($368 million). The company says it provides systematic full-chain services for low-Earth orbit constellation projects, but also filed the Honghu-3 constellation with the International Telecommunication Union in May 2024, planning 10,000 satellites across 160 orbital planes. That makes it China’s third mega-constellation filing exceeding 10,000 satellites, after the national Guowang and Shanghai-led Qianfan (Thousand Sails) programs.
The round was jointly led by investment arms of China Construction Bank and ICBC alongside Jinpu Capital. Other participants include Bank of China, Bank of Communications, Agricultural Bank, and CITIC-linked vehicles, plus regional state funds from Sichuan, Chengdu, Xiamen, and Hunan, along with Beijing Advanced Manufacturing Fund and E-Town Capital. Notably, investment arms of all five big state banks participated, including several financial asset investment companies (AICs) that have been empowered since late 2024 to directly invest in strategic technology. This policy has helped fuel a surge of investment in commercial space and a growing number of IPOs.
Hongqing Technology was founded in 2017 with Landspace as the largest shareholder and claims to be China’s only integrated satellite constellation solution provider with synergistic rocket-satellite capabilities. Landspace flies the methane-fueled Zhuque-2E and is working to bring its reusable, stainless-steel Zhuque-3 - designed for megaconstellation launches - into regular service. The company performed a static fire for the Zhuque-3 Y2 on June 29.
Headquartered in Beijing E-Town’s aerospace district, Hongqing produces flat-panel stackable satellites and uses in-house subsystems including the Jinwu-200 krypton Hall thrusters, tested on a Honghu satellite launched by a Landspace Zhuque-2 rocket in December 2023. The company has a Shanghai testing and development base and the Xiong’an intelligent satellite manufacturing base, aiming to produce between 100 and 500 satellites annually by 2026.
Hongqing appears to be positioning itself as a one-stop shop for constellations. It built one of four direct-to-device satellite internet technology test satellites launched May 31 on a Long March 2D rocket, and stated after launch that it continues to secure complete satellite orders from core domestic constellation operators.
It remains unclear whether the 2024 Honghu-3 filing has received project approval from China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), nor has Hongqing demonstrated any deployment progress. Competitors include GalaxySpace, which contributes to the Guowang constellation led by state-owned CAST and IAMCAS; Genesat, tied to the Qianfan project; and MinoSpace, mid-IPO, focused more on remote sensing than communications.
The large funding round appears to show state investors willing to bet on the Landspace-Hongqing vertically integrated approach, echoing SpaceX-Starlink and Rocket Lab’s recent acquisition of Iridium. The funding also aligns with Chinese efforts to build a broad, diverse satellite manufacturing base capable of producing thousands of spacecraft annually.