SCMP said China's satellite navigation market is expected to grow rapidly in the coming time as the country increases the use and expansion of the Beidou system to outside markets.

According to the Global Navigation Satellite System and Location-Based Services Association of China (GLAC), the value of China's satellite navigation and location-based services reached US$74.2 billion last year, up 7.09% from 2022.

At the heart of this industry is the Beidou navigation system - a rival to the US-initiated global positioning system GPS.

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China's Beidou navigation system was officially recognized in November last year. Photo: SCMP

The report said that with the gradual recovery of economic development, digital transformation and intelligent upgrading in various industries, the demand for satellite positioning and spatial data equipment also skyrocketed last year. Currently, the industry has more than 20,000 entities participating in the market, creating nearly one million jobs.

The first BeiDou satellite was launched into orbit in 2000, and the system has now been upgraded to the third generation and provides services to partners in the China-led Belt and Road Initiative.

BeiDou and GPS are two of the four major satellite navigation services globally, along with Russia's GLONASS and Europe's Galileo.

In a joint statement following President Putin's visit to China, Beijing and Moscow agreed to step up cooperation in the application of Beidou and GLONASS, part of efforts to strengthen their space exploration partnership, such as building an international research lab on the Moon.

Previously, in 2018, the two countries also had a framework agreement on cooperation in using "Beidou and GLONASS for peaceful purposes".

China's navigation system was recognized by the International Civil Aviation Organization in November, becoming the common satellite navigation system for civil flights globally.

BeiDou is widely used in smartphones, wearables and other consumer products. Last year, 98% of smartphones produced in the mainland supported this positioning function.

The US GPS positioning is gradually falling out of favor in the trend of technological autonomy . The US Global Positioning System (GPS) is still a system present in all fields. However, recently, a strategic partner of Washington has abandoned this GPS technology to switch to a self-developed positioning system with superior accuracy.