Domestic Medical Device Industry's "Second Half": How Can a Trillion-Dollar Industry Outline a "High-Quality Development" Blueprint?

21st Century Business Herald Reporter Yang Ping

In the 2026 government work report, it was stated that we should “promote high-quality development of medical devices, accelerate the development of commercial health insurance, and better meet the diverse medical and medication needs of the people.”

This is the first time “high-quality development” has been linked to medical devices and included in the government work report, marking a key turning point as China’s medical device industry transitions from the scale-expansion “first half” to the innovation and quality-improvement “second half.”

In recent years, domestic medical devices have experienced a leap from “following” to “running alongside” and even “leading,” driven by policy benefits and technological breakthroughs.

Taking 2025 as an example, according to the 2025 national catalog for domestic substitution of medical devices, by the end of 2025, over 87.2% of secondary categories had achieved more than 50% localization rate, and 76.3% of categories surpassed 70%. This means that in most conventional medical device fields, domestic brands have already dominated the market.

Recently, several A-share listed medical device companies disclosed their 2025 performance reports or quick reports. Eighteen companies saw performance growth of over 20% in 2025, with Sinocare Medical, Sanyou Medical, and others doubling their net profits attributable to the parent company. North芯 Life, listed in February 2025, successfully turned a profit in 2025 and will be among the first “demoted” companies in the Sci-Tech Innovation Growth tier.

Looking back at 2025, amidst a complex international environment, China’s domestic medical device industry has charted a resilient and steady development path.

According to the latest data from the Medical Device Supply Chain Branch of the China Federation of Logistics & Purchasing, the market size of China’s medical device industry is expected to reach 1.22 trillion yuan in 2025, a roughly 30% increase from 941.7 billion yuan in 2024, leading major global markets in growth rate.

This growth trend is also reflected in the performance of many listed companies. Wind data shows that, so far, 61 medical device companies have disclosed their 2025 financial reports. Among them, United Imaging Healthcare, a leading domestic medical imaging company, achieved a total revenue of 13.821 billion yuan in 2025, up 34.18% year-on-year, with a net profit of 1.788 billion yuan, up 77.01%, reaching a new high since listing.

United Imaging stated that the domestic market benefits from the normalized implementation of large-scale equipment upgrade policies, with continuous demand for high-end medical imaging and primary diagnosis equipment, maintaining a leading market share.

Huitai Medical, a leader in cardiovascular intervention, also performed well, with revenue reaching 2.584 billion yuan in 2025, up 25.08%; net profit attributable to the parent company was 821 million yuan, up 21.91%.

Huitai Medical attributed its growth to the promotion of core products like PFA (Pulsed Field Ablation) and the R&D iteration of next-generation products, as well as refined operations that achieved synergistic growth of net profit and revenue.

In terms of growth rate, six companies doubled their net profits attributable to the parent company. Sano Medical’s net profit in 2025 was 47.2863 million yuan, a 3,057.05% increase, ranking as the industry’s “growth king.”

Following closely are Sanyou Medical, Aojing Medical, and Chunli Medical, all in the orthopedics sector, with net profit increases of 451.85%, 203.86%, and 117.72%, respectively. As negative impacts from centralized procurement and other factors gradually clear, along with technological innovation and international expansion, the orthopedic medical device industry is continuing to recover.

Behind the sustained growth in corporate performance, innovative achievements in the medical device industry are accelerating, and exports of high-end products are speeding up.

In recent years, a series of innovative products, dubbed “medical heavy equipment,” such as proton therapy systems, implantable left ventricular assist devices representing cutting-edge artificial heart technology, and domestically produced photon-counting CT that breaks international monopolies, have been approved and launched.

Statistics show that in 2025, 76 innovative medical devices were approved for listing, a 17% increase year-on-year, with a total of 391 approved. Priority review and approval were granted to 25 medical devices, a 212.5% increase, with a total of 171 approved. According to the National Medical Products Administration, since the 14th Five-Year Plan, China has approved 292 innovative medical devices, 3.3 times more than during the 13th Five-Year Plan.

Regarding exports, the China Chamber of Commerce for Import & Export of Medicines & Health Products reports that in 2025, China’s total medical device import and export volume reached $85.304 billion, a 0.89% increase. Exports totaled $50.469 billion, up 3.54%; imports totaled $34.835 billion, down 2.72%.

The breakthrough of domestic high-end medical devices is supported by both institutional innovation and regulatory empowerment.

In recent years, the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) has continued to deepen reform of review and approval systems, establishing diversified channels such as special review for innovation and priority approval, shifting regulatory focus to the R&D stage, and creating a working mechanism of “early intervention, tailored policies, full-process guidance, and joint review,” making it easier for innovative products to reach the market.

Focusing on core areas like brain-machine interfaces and surgical robots, top-level design has introduced the “2025 Priority Approval List of High-End Medical Devices,” clarifying development priorities for related sectors.

According to NMPA data, in 2025, the agency received 457 applications for special approval of innovative medical devices, of which 104 were approved for special review; 38 priority applications were received, with 26 approved for priority approval.

In July last year, NMPA also issued the “Announcement on Optimizing Full Lifecycle Supervision and Supporting High-End Medical Device Innovation,” which clarified key measures such as optimizing special approval procedures, improving classification and naming principles, and establishing communication and guidance mechanisms.

At the start of the “14th Five-Year Plan,” the 2026 government work report’s emphasis on “promoting high-quality development of medical devices” has given the domestic industry a clearer strategic positioning.

How should industry leaders respond to this new challenge of “high-quality development”? Several industry leaders shared their insights.

Liu Heng, General Manager of the National Center for High-Performance Medical Devices Innovation, based on the center’s practice of empowering the industry chain, said the center plans to continue fostering innovation through joint research, incubation investments, and medical-engineering integration.

“The National Innovation Center focuses on aligning with national industrial development strategies and actual clinical needs, concentrating efforts to break through common key technologies and bottleneck technologies, leading frontier innovations, improving the efficiency of scientific achievement transformation and technology dissemination, and systematically building internationally competitive industrial chains and clusters,” Liu said.

Zhuang Zhi, Chairman of Rymate, offered advice based on the company’s expertise in respiratory health. He suggested: “In line with the Healthy China initiative’s deployment on prevention and treatment of chronic respiratory diseases, we recommend further strengthening respiratory disease awareness campaigns, improving public understanding, and building a full-chain service system of ‘screening—diagnosis—treatment—management’ through innovative products and cloud services, transforming respiratory health awareness into early screening, early diagnosis, and long-term standardized management.”

Additionally, Zhuang pointed out that the “14th Five-Year Plan” emphasizes leading new productive forces through high-level technological self-reliance. He said, “Medical device companies should adhere to independent innovation, achieve key technology autonomy, accelerate the clinical translation of innovative results through medical-engineering collaboration, and actively participate in the construction of respiratory disease prevention and control systems to develop comprehensive solutions.”

Chunli Medical Chairman Chen Zhiqiang also told reporters that promoting high-quality industry development hinges on “innovation-driven” responses to clinical needs. Chunli Medical continues to increase investment in technological breakthroughs in ultrasound, endoscopy, minimally invasive surgery, and cardiovascular intervention, leading industry upgrades with high-end products; using intelligent manufacturing to meet international standards. By promoting quality products and services to grassroots levels, Chunli aims to realize “Made in China, enjoyed worldwide” high-end medical equipment, serving a healthy China with accessible innovative solutions.

National People’s Congress Deputy and Mipo Medical Chairman Yuan Yuyu proposed suggestions on promoting exports of domestic medical devices, further optimizing procurement policies for medical consumables, and accelerating the construction of outpatient chronic disease and weight management services.

Yuan Yuyu noted that high-tech, high-value-added medical devices have huge export potential internationally, but companies face obstacles such as opaque registration standards and a shortage of international talent. He recommended establishing a national public service platform for medical device export, promoting mutual recognition of registration standards and testing reports, and implementing a special program to support overseas talent for medical device companies.

He also emphasized that in promoting future industry development, it’s important to look beyond the present and focus on long-term planning. “We should stay attentive to the latest technological trends and industry directions, make proactive arrangements, and strive to dominate future global competition. On the implementation level, flexibility and inclusiveness are essential to provide broader support for industry development.”