China's geospatial industry output up 5.9 percent in 2025

China's geospatial information industry generated a total output value of more than 900 billion yuan (about 134 billion U.S. dollars) in 2025, up 5.9 percent year on year, according to the latest official data released Thursday by the China Association for Geospatial Industry and Sciences (CAGIS).

In the year, the industry's total output reached 900.5 billion yuan, and the number of enterprises operating in the sector stood at about 269,000, up 11.1 percent over the previous year.

The figures have articulated a shift from rapid expansion toward high-quality development, with a complete industrial chain now in place covering data collection, intelligent processing, scenario application, and comprehensive services.

Meanwhile, the industry's market vitality continued to grow, with small and medium-sized enterprises driving innovation. A total of 447 geospatial companies have been rated as "little giant" enterprises specializing in niche sectors, accounting for 2.5 percent of all such firms nationwide.

"Against the backdrop of the transition between old and new growth drivers, the geospatial industry as a whole has achieved steady progress with improved quality and expanded scale. Research and development investment related to geospatial information remains at a high level. Innovative achievements continue to emerge. Technical standards are steadily improving. The industrial foundation has been continuously strengthened. Applications are becoming more extensive and more in-depth," said Yi Shubai, secretary-general of China Association for Geospatial Industry and Sciences (CAGIS).

The geospatial information industry's steady development is supported by space infrastructure. In recent years, China has maintained a high-density launch pace for civilian remote sensing satellites, adding more than 100 satellites to space annually. By the end of 2025, China had launched a total of 694 civilian remote sensing satellites, including 126 new ones placed in orbit during 2025 alone. Construction of the next-generation BeiDou system is also progressing in an orderly manner, with in-orbit upgrades fully completed this year.

Under its plans, China will continue to deepen research on spatiotemporal intelligent technology, advance the authorized operation of public data resources such as satellite navigation and positioning reference station networks, and unlock the value of geospatial data elements to support emerging industries including intelligent driving and embodied intelligence. During the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030), China aims to push the average annual total output value of the geospatial industry top the one trillion yuan (149.4 billion U.S. dollars) threshold.

China's geospatial industry output up 5.9 percent in 2025

Yemen's Houthi group said that it had carried out multiple attacks on Saudi and Saudi-led coalition targets, while the Saudi-led coalition said it intercepted a Houthi missile, and Yemeni government forces reported operations against the group on several fronts.

In a statement released early Thursday, the Houthis said they used a surface-to-air missile to hit a Saudi Typhoon fighter jet. The aircraft, they said, had taken off from Saudi Arabia's Taif Air Base and was hit over Yemen's Sa'adah Province. Saudi Arabia has not yet responded to the claim.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Houthis said they launched a large-scale attack using ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones against oil facilities of energy giant Saudi Aramco in Dhahran in eastern Saudi Arabia, as well as King Khalid International Airport and a Saudi Aramco refinery in the Saudi capital, Riyadh.

The Houthis said in a separate statement released Wednesday evening that the group had fired one more ballistic missile at King Khalid International Airport and launched three ballistic missiles at Saudi-led coalition targets in southern Yemen.

Turki al-Maliki, spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition, said on Wednesday that they had intercepted and destroyed a Houthi ballistic missile fired toward Riyadh. Saudi Arabia's General Directorate of Civil Defense said in a statement on Wednesday that fragments from the intercepted missile fell in Riyadh, injuring one person.

Meanwhile, the Houthi-run al-Masirah TV reported that late on Wednesday the Saudi-led coalition carried out an airstrike on a residential building in the Al Maravi'ah area of Hodeidah province, which is under Houthi control. Early on Thursday, al-Masirah also reported that Yemen's capital, Sanaa, had come under Saudi attack.

According to a Houthi statement issued on Wednesday evening, the Saudi-led coalition launched 42 airstrikes and missile attacks on Houthi-controlled areas in the previous 24 hours. The Houthis said that Saudi attacks on islands in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait directly threatened the safety of maritime shipping routes.

Separately, Yemeni government forces said on Wednesday that they continued to strike Houthi targets and personnel on the eastern and southern fronts.

Yemen has been mired in conflict since late 2014, when the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa and much of northern Yemen, prompting a Saudi-led coalition to intervene in 2015 in support of the Yemeni government.

Houthis, Saudi-led coalition report fresh military actions against each other