A-shares surge with 2.4 trillion yuan in funds rushing in, commercial aerospace provides strong catalytic support, and the three core sectors may see a "simultaneous increase in volume and price" golden turning point!

Ask AI: How can the three major sectors of rockets, satellites, and ground equipment achieve simultaneous growth in both price and volume?

The three major A-share indexes moved strongly today. As of market close, the Shanghai Composite rose 2.70%, the Shenzhen Component rose 4.79%, and the ChiNext Index rose 5.91%. The combined trading value of the three markets (Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Beijing) exceeded 2.4 trillion, expanding by more than 700 billion yuan versus yesterday. Most industry sectors rose across the board, with leading gains in precious metals, advertising and marketing, IT services, components, semiconductors, media, aerospace equipment, software development, and consumer electronics.

On April 7, at Hainan commercial space launch site, the Long March 8 launch vehicle delivered the 7th batch of satellites for the Qianfan constellation into their planned orbit using an “18-satellite per launch” method, and the launch was a complete success. In the near term, the commercial aerospace sector is expected to see a wave of dense catalysts. Rockets of models such as Nebula One, Long March 10乙, and Juzque 3 will be launched in clusters. The IPO process in capital markets is accelerating. It is understood that SpaceX plans to publish its first IPO prospectus in late May. SpaceX plans to begin IPO roadshows in the week of June 8.

In addition, according to reports from the 2026 ICIDE (赛迪论坛), it is estimated that in 2025, the size of China’s commercial aerospace core industry increased to 1.01 trillion yuan, up nearly 7% year over year. By the end of 2025, the number of China’s commercial aerospace companies had exceeded 600, up more than 20%. Both the number of commercial launches and the number of satellites inserted into orbit are growing rapidly. In 2025, China carried out 50 commercial aerospace launches, accounting for 54% of China’s total launches. A total of 311 commercial satellites were inserted into orbit, accounting for 84% of China’s total satellites inserted into orbit.

Views from market-related institutions

Ping An Securities stated that aerospace, as one of the country’s important new-quality productive forces, has seen space launch missions accelerate in recent years under the backdrop of government support, technological progress, and supply-chain development. Dongxing Securities pointed out that during the “15th Five-Year Plan for 2026–2030” period, commercial aerospace will become an important engine driving new-quality productive forces and high-quality technological development within China. To secure valuable orbital slots and spectrum resources, China’s constellation satellite launch count in 2026 is expected to further accelerate.

CITIC Securities stated that the future of commercial aerospace is the starry sea, and both China and the U.S. place commercial aerospace at an extremely high strategic level. SpaceX leads in constellation deployment progress, rocket launch capacity and costs, as well as revenue scale and valuation scale. Driven by the strategic value of frequency-orbit protection and the commercial value of operational services, China’s policies support the development of commercial aerospace from both the industrial and capital-market perspectives. Domestic development shows an accelerated catch-up trend. Large reusable rockets are starting to fly their first missions in clusters. This is expected to gradually break through key industrial bottlenecks and accelerate commercial aerospace toward a closed-loop. Looking at the subsequent performance of the commercial aerospace sector, attention in the satellite segment should focus on payload general design, antennas and supporting components, laser communication terminals and supporting components, and solar arrays and energy systems. In the rocket segment, focus should be on engines and their 3D printing, as well as related rocket airframe structural components. In the ground equipment segment, focus should be on civilian terminals and direct-to-mobile-related items. In the operational services segment, focus should be on companies with scarce qualifications.

Founder Securities stated that in 2026, progress in U.S.-China commercial aerospace will experience catalytic resonance. In the U.S., SpaceX’s Starship V3 will conduct its first flight in April, and compared with V2, key indicators such as launch capacity and reuse count will see major improvements. Domestically, both state-backed and private rocket companies are making concerted efforts. In the second quarter, it is expected to kick off the first-launch wave of recoverable rockets. Domestic satellite bulk tenders are imminent, and the rollout of functions such as direct-to-mobile communications will further drive satellite performance iterations. Satellites will then enter a stage of simultaneous growth in both volume and price. Founder Securities suggests focusing on directions such as rockets, satellite integration and operations, satellite payloads and components, solar arrays and energy systems, space computing power, overseas supply chain links, and ground facilities.

Market-related sector overview

1. The rocket manufacturing and launch services segment occupies the most core leading position. With a significant increase in domestic launch frequencies and the normalization of “multiple satellites per rocket” technology, companies in this area directly benefit from the expansion of the industry’s overall scale. From a fundamental perspective, rockets have complex structures, including rocket airframe structures, propulsion systems, and electrical systems. In particular, solid rockets—because of shorter preparation cycles and lower launch costs—have become one of the main forces behind commercial launches recently. Liquid reusable rockets, meanwhile, are the core path for reducing costs in the future. The capital market’s trading logic for this sector mainly centers on “launch incremental demand” and “technology iteration.” Companies that have in-house core engine development capability, or that can provide precision components such as critical valves, piping, and thrust chambers, are seeing a significant increase in order visibility. On the sentiment side, every successful rocket ignition and successful orbit insertion becomes a direct catalyst that triggers abnormal stock movements in individual companies within this sub-sector.

2. The satellite manufacturing and communications payload segment is the largest in quantity and has relatively high added value within the entire constellation plan. According to the domestic satellite internet constellation plans already announced, in the next few years, tens of thousands of low-earth-orbit satellites will be launched, bringing unprecedented certainty of demand for satellite manufacturing companies. Different from traditional national major-project satellites, commercial satellites place greater emphasis on “standardization, modularization, and batch production” to control costs and meet the requirements of rapid constellation build-out. Under this trend, demand for satellite platform structures, solar power panels, and core communications payloads (such as phased-array antennas and spaceborne transponders) will show exponential growth. In particular, phased-array antennas—being the core component for broadband communications between satellites and ground terminals—have high technology barriers and large value per satellite. In the capital market, this segment often exhibits strong technology growth attributes. Investors’ pursuit is mainly based on expectations for performance realization from a “multi-billion-yuan (tens of billions) incremental market.”

3. The ground equipment and terminal application segment is the key foothold for commercial aerospace to ultimately achieve a commercial closed loop. As the number of satellites in orbit increases, the construction of ground gateways for signal transmission, tracking and control stations, and user terminals must proceed in parallel, or even ahead of schedule. In terms of the industrial chain transmission sequence, it is usually “first satellites, then terminals.” At present, major domestic operators and terminal equipment manufacturers are accelerating their deployment of satellite communication terminals, including vehicle-mounted antennas, ship-mounted terminals, and portable satellite phones. Especially amid the wave of “smart” new energy vehicles, satellite direct-connect communication capabilities are gradually becoming standard on high-end models, opening up broad consumer-market space for related antenna modules and RF chip manufacturers. The capital market’s focus on this segment lies in “improving penetration rates” and “volume expansion at the C-end.” Compared with upstream manufacturing, the ground equipment segment is easier to achieve economies of scale, and its earnings upside is expected to be fully released in the latter half of the industrial chain.

Risk warning: The industry information and company developments mentioned in this article are provided only for compilation and do not constitute any investment advice. There are uncertainties in business operations and market volatility; please pay attention to related risks.