Yesterday morning, I moved from Jiading to the Shanghai International Procurement Exhibition Center for the Sensor China 2025 Sensor Exhibition. I spent over an hour visiting most of the booths on the first and second floors, met many old friends, and encountered several fans of the Google IoT public account. I listened to forums featuring sensor experts and attended the annual Sensor Friends Gala dinner. By the time I returned to the hotel, I felt quite exhausted.
This morning, I visited a client in Shanghai, and in the afternoon, I returned to the exhibition to participate in a seminar organized by exhibitors and the German AMA on the international expansion of Chinese sensor companies.
The sky in Shanghai today was particularly striking. Although the Didi driver mentioned that the temperature was higher than usual, the beautiful sky still compelled me to take many photos.
The exhibition organizer, Ms. Zhong Haiyan from Shanghai Science and Technology Exhibition Company, informed me that nearly 400 domestic and foreign companies participated in this year’s exhibition, with 20% being foreign brands, setting a ten-year record. This reflects the continuous growth and development of Chinese sensor companies and their willingness to showcase themselves. I believe that it will soon surpass the scale of the post-pandemic German Sensor+Test exhibition, becoming the sensor exhibition with the most exhibitors globally. Combined with the Sensor Shenzhen exhibition held every April in Shenzhen, the Chinese sensor industry and its scale will soon lead the world, and I sincerely hope that Chinese sensor technology can also lead globally.
During the 2025 Shanghai China Sensor Exhibition and Forum, I believe there are three phenomena worth noting.
First, large foreign enterprises in China are increasingly discussing localization and independence. With the unfolding of the trade war, technology war, and tariff war, foreign enterprises in China are also exploring future development.
In a speech by Mr. Rong from Honeywell, he emphasized that Honeywell’s philosophy of “In China, for China” is not just a concept but also an action, establishing an independent industrial chain system in China, with raw materials sourced from China to serve Chinese customers.
Yesterday, at the forum hosted by Liu Qin titled “Breaking the Deadlock, Reconstructing: Global Supply Chain Security Collaboration and Local Ecological Construction for Sensors,” two well-known companies, Swiss TE and European STMicroelectronics, faced reality and issues head-on, exploring the survival and development paths for Chinese and foreign sensor companies. The situation is constantly evolving, and solutions are also changing in response. Under the influence of geopolitical disturbances, foreign companies in China face the same problems as Chinese companies.
Second, this year, several state-owned enterprises also participated in the market-oriented sensor exhibition (AVIC, China Electronics, China Ordnance, Aerospace). The Wuhan Instrument Company of AVIC and the Xi’an 618 Institute of AVIC’s Siwei Technology, as well as Chengdu’s Kaitian Company, are particularly noteworthy. Especially, the 214 Institute of the Ordnance Industry, where General Xu participated in the interview program and launched new products. The Xi’an 44 Institute of Aerospace also registered to participate in the exhibition in the last few days of the event. I believe this is commendable and worthy of respect.
Third, the presence of foreign brands, especially lesser-known foreign small brands, which accounted for 20% of the exhibitors, is also noteworthy. This indicates that with China’s technological progress and market expansion, more foreign entities hope to enter the Chinese market with their technologies and products.
The entry of foreign brands allows us, the Chinese sensor community, to better understand the current state of foreign technological development and to closely engage with foreign technologies. At the same time, visitors from foreign brands can genuinely experience and understand the current state of Chinese sensor technology and industry. Mutual exchanges among personnel are the most direct and simplest way to enhance understanding.
In this afternoon’s seminar on international expansion, a nearly 60-year-old German female professor, visiting China for the first time, initially came to discuss her work with a German gas sensor company. She couldn’t help but express her views on China, first feeling surprised, then very pleased, and finally noting that Chinese people are very friendly. Of course, Germans are also very friendly. She mentioned that a Chinese student had communicated with her about technology yesterday, and today this student brought his Chinese teacher to their German booth, and the German professor readily shared her PPT materials with the Chinese teacher.
Friendship is gradually realized through mutual understanding via communication, and it is built on more exchanges. To elaborate further, Westerners know very little about China, despite being developed countries. The more developed they are, the less willing they are to understand what they perceive as a poor China. A German partner company of our Zhongxing Measurement and Control Company has over 120 employees, yet only three have been to China, and they mainly visited our Zhongxing in Xi’an, including their boss who has only been once. China is no longer the China of 40 years ago, nor is it the China of 20 years ago. Chinese sensor companies should have the courage, capability, and strength to participate in the global sensor business. I am preparing to board; today’s flight has been delayed again. In my last four flights with China Eastern Airlines, none have been on time. #2025.09.25.19:15 Hongqiao Airport Eastern Airlines Lounge#
