Low-Altitude Economy Track Welcomes New "Catfish," 4 Billion Yuan Industry Fund Stirs Trillion-Dollar Market | Focus on 2026 AWE

Our newspaper (chinatimes.net.cn) reporter Hu Jinhua, Shanghai Photography Report

For three consecutive years, the government work report has mentioned the low-altitude economy. This year, at the National People’s Congress, the positioning of the low-altitude economy industry has been upgraded from “new growth engine” and “emerging industry” to “emerging pillar industry.” A technological revolution driven by artificial intelligence and embodied intelligence is reshaping a trillion-dollar market landscape.

From March 12 to 15, the 2026 China Appliance and Consumer Electronics Expo (referred to as “2026 AWE”) was held at the Shanghai New International Expo Center. On-site, the Huaxia Times reporter learned that this global home appliance event, themed “AI Technology · Intelligent Future,” gathered over 1,200 exhibitors and hundreds of global debut products. Themed products related to the low-altitude economy became a focus, with some exhibitors announcing the establishment of industry funds totaling up to 4 billion yuan.

“During this exhibition, we held four high-level strategic investment and industry cooperation signing ceremonies, including top-tier hardware technology investment fund partners, local government industry guidance fund leaders, and representatives from leading companies in the low-altitude industry chain. RortiX intelligent flying robots signed agreements with multiple local governments to jointly establish low-altitude and consumer technology industry funds, as well as strategic agreements with four global partners on co-developing new generation products and expanding overseas markets. The total scale of the industry funds signed this time exceeded 4 billion yuan, and product orders worth 20 million yuan were secured on-site,” a person in charge from ChuMi Technology told Huaxia Times.

Notably, some on-site attendees believe that ChuMi’s entry into the low-altitude economy track makes it a new “catfish” in the market. Its RortiX intelligent flying robot has begun competing alongside DJI, CAAC, HaborSon, and other drone products, exploring this highly potential market.

Local Governments Intensively Establish Low-Altitude Economy Industry Funds

The latest “Deep Market Research and Development Forecast Analysis Report on China’s Low-Altitude Economy Industry from 2025 to 2030” by the China Business Industry Research Institute shows that in 2024, China’s low-altitude economy market size reached approximately 670.25 billion yuan; in 2025, it is projected to reach 1.5 trillion yuan; and by 2030, the market size is expected to reach 2 trillion yuan.

The 4 billion yuan industry fund established by ChuMi and local governments is the best proof of current entrants in the low-altitude economy track.

“Through the strategic signing with Sheyang Economic Development Zone, especially the joint creation of a multi-billion-yuan industry fund, the strategic goal is to build a new industry acceleration model. This can first solve the pain point of difficulty in turning innovation into practical applications. The low-altitude economy has many excellent technologies and ideas, but from laboratory to production line, and then to business models, there is a long way to go, requiring substantial capital and support. Industry funds act as catalysts and binders; they not only directly invest in good projects but also rely on Sheyang’s physical industrial space and our technological platform to provide comprehensive support for testing sites, supply chains, and application scenarios, greatly shortening their growth cycle,” said Deng Jie, Executive President of RortiX Rotor Era, in an interview with Huaxia Times during a signing ceremony on March 12.

Deng Jie stated that the establishment of the industry fund aims to use the fund as a link to attract and cultivate an entire low-altitude industry chain—from core components and intelligent algorithms to operational services and talent training.

“Rotor Era brings cutting-edge technology and industry insights, the Economic Development Zone provides top-level policy design and physical industrial support, and the fund injects strong capital vitality. These three form a positive cycle, systematically solving problems such as technology transformation, market access, and standard setting. We hope to create a replicable and promotable low-altitude economy development model through Sheyang’s successful practice,” Deng Jie said.

It is also noteworthy that local government representatives at the signing ceremony revealed that the economic development zone can provide abundant landing scenarios and industrial support, enabling rapid iteration and validation of drone technology in real environments; while the core “AI + embodied intelligence” technology brought by enterprises can inject innovative core into local low-altitude economy development.

“In simple terms, enterprises are responsible for tackling the technical challenges of ‘smart flying,’ while we focus on building an industry ecosystem that can ‘fly up and land down.’ The first batch of commercialization is expected to be very quick, with plans to start construction of the Rotor Era Sheyang factory in April,” Deng Jie said. According to statistics, in 2025, there will be over 200 investment and financing events related to the upstream and downstream of China’s low-altitude industry chain. Besides active private investment institutions, local state-owned assets are also entering the scene by establishing low-altitude industry funds. From eastern coastal provinces to central and western regions like Chongqing, Sichuan, and Guizhou, local government-led industry funds are blooming everywhere, with each scale reaching tens of billions of yuan.

In response, Wang Yiming, Director of the China Internet of Things and Low-Altitude Economy Research Institute, believes: “The rise of the low-altitude economy depends on breakthroughs in key core technologies and intensive capital injection. The core logic of local governments establishing low-altitude industry funds is to seize the high ground of new productive forces development. As a strategic emerging industry at the national level, the low-altitude economy spans manufacturing, transportation, and services, not only driving growth in upstream core components (such as avionic systems and power batteries), midstream equipment manufacturing (drones, eVTOL), and downstream operational services (logistics, tourism), but also injecting new momentum into regional industrial upgrades. No region wants to fall behind in this ‘sky race.’”

Technological Breakthroughs Are Central to Industry Boom

The Civil Aviation Administration of China predicts that by 2025, China’s low-altitude economy market size will reach 1.5 trillion yuan; there will be nearly 20,000 drone operation companies; and the annual order volume for eVTOL will exceed 30 billion yuan. Over 100,000 related enterprises are already active nationwide, with a 162.36% year-on-year increase in new registrations in 2025, indicating an industry boom.

According to Zhang Guanghui, senior partner at Hejun Consulting, especially in the core areas of power systems, avionics flight control, and energy systems, China is transitioning from “following” to “partial leading” in low-altitude economy and drone products. The deep integration of AI autonomous flight algorithms with Beidou centimeter-level positioning technology, along with the continuous iteration of aerospace-grade solid-state batteries, provides core technological support for large-scale commercial use of low-altitude equipment. This also means that in the future, tens of thousands of drone companies will compete based on “hard power.”

“RortiX focuses solely on innovative R&D, not traditional development. Our core technology is AI algorithms, and all our R&D revolves around AI upgrades. Currently, we have announced cooperation with several leading low-altitude companies, and will further develop inspection, logistics, hydrogen energy, firefighting, and eVTOL applications with N+1 models, overlaying AI with various aircraft to upgrade existing models into a new generation of smarter aircraft. These new aircraft can achieve fully autonomous obstacle avoidance, path planning, no pilot needed, and no GPS required, capable of operating independently in complex and enclosed environments. We will also add multimodal functions for different scenarios, such as firefighting robots that autonomously determine flight altitude, angle, and extinguishing methods based on fire size and wind direction,” Deng Jie explained.

On March 13, Wang Lifeng, professor at the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, commented: “The low-altitude economy integrates advanced technologies from aerospace, intelligent manufacturing, new energy, and artificial intelligence, characterized by a long chain, strong driving force, and broad scenarios. Facing the reshaping of the global aviation industry and the wave of green and low-carbon transformation, it is essential to systematically plan in key areas such as core technology breakthroughs, discipline development, multi-disciplinary talent cultivation, and industry ecosystem construction, to respond to external uncertainties with independent innovation.”

“Development of the low-altitude economy heavily relies on iterative improvements in drone and electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft (eVTOL) technology. The key breakthroughs are in flight control systems, high-energy-density batteries, and highly reliable electric propulsion systems. Only by increasing investment in key technological R&D can we seize the initiative in global competition. Further integration of technological forces is needed to build a safe, efficient, and controllable collaborative R&D system. The national level should establish a national low-altitude economy technological innovation center, integrating leading enterprise engineering capabilities and university research strengths, focusing on multi-redundant flight control chips, high-precision laser radars, solid-state battery materials, and other critical areas. Accelerating the layout of pilot platforms in the low-altitude field, connecting innovation chains, technology chains, and key nodes of the industrial chain, to promote technological achievements’ engineering breakthroughs and industrial applications, ensuring the industry chain remains autonomous and controllable,” Wang Lifeng emphasized.

Regarding specific application scenarios of the low-altitude economy, expert Xue Haixiang from the China Electromechanical Products Circulation Association told this reporter: “Primarily in urban and rural logistics and distribution, such as city delivery, intercity urgent shipments, medical supplies delivery, high-value goods transportation between urban and rural areas, emergency rescue supplies, and remote or cross-waterway transportation; secondly in industrial and agricultural production, such as power inspection, highway surveying, rail inspection, river and waterway patrols, port and dock inspections, petrochemical plant inspections, solar panel monitoring and cleaning, wind power equipment monitoring and cleaning, toxic gas monitoring in complex conditions, hazardous chemical vehicle patrols, offshore platform personnel and material transportation, container tie-down inspections, industrial and agricultural storage yard monitoring, water pollution monitoring, agricultural and forestry pest control, and material handling; thirdly in public services and urban management, such as monitoring and guidance in high-traffic areas, border crossings, service areas, cross-sea bridges, hazardous material channels, passenger hubs, waterway traffic management, and water environment protection.”

Editor: Xu Yunqian Chief Editor: Gong Peijia