China’s sensor technology innovation has achieved new milestones.
In neural interface systems such as brain-computer interfaces, electrodes serve as the core interface sensors connecting electronic devices and biological neural systems. On September 18, the Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences announced that its research team has successfully developed a neuro-fiber electrode called NeuroWorm, which is as fine and soft as a hair, stretchable, and can be freely driven. This achievement represents a significant breakthrough in the field of bioelectronics, marking the first transition of traditional passive fixed implanted electrodes to a new stage of active control, intelligent response, and collaborative movement with biological tissues, providing a new technical pathway for long-term dynamic monitoring of neural system functions.
Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and Professor You Zheng from Huazhong University of Science and Technology stated that sensors are the “nerve endings” of information technology, serving as the foundational support for cutting-edge technologies such as the Internet of Things, smart manufacturing, humanoid robots, and intelligent connected vehicles.
Image source: Sensor Expert Network
Industry Enters Fast Track of Development
According to data from the China Business Industry Research Institute, the global sensor industry market size is expected to increase from 3.7 trillion yuan in 2020 to 5.5 trillion yuan in 2024, with a compound annual growth rate of 10.1%. China is one of the largest sensor markets in the world, with the market size of the Chinese sensor industry increasing from 0.8 trillion yuan in 2020 to 1.3 trillion yuan in 2024, achieving a compound annual growth rate of 13.3%.
“The resonance between technological iteration and market demand has stimulated the vigorous vitality of the industry,” said Zheng Yangyang, an AI robotics industry researcher at Samoyed Cloud Technology Group, in an interview with the Securities Daily. In recent years, the rise of technologies such as artificial intelligence and robotics has injected strong momentum into China’s sensor industry, especially in the field of robotics, where the role of sensors is particularly critical—from tactile feedback in dexterous hands to motion perception in joints, the performance of sensors directly determines the interaction accuracy and operational capabilities of robots, serving as the core support for achieving embodied intelligence in robotics.
Collaborative efforts on the policy front have provided support for the development and technological innovation of the sensor industry. In March 2025, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Education, and the State Administration for Market Regulation issued the “Implementation Plan for the Digital Transformation of the Light Industry,” proposing the promotion of intelligent sensors, intelligent control, digital twins, and other technologies in process industries such as papermaking and daily chemicals, to build digital production lines and enhance the online monitoring and optimization control capabilities of key elements such as equipment operation and process parameters.
Local governments are also actively responding, refining and implementing measures based on local industrial foundations. For example, the “Optics Valley Sensor Industry Innovation Alliance,” led by Huazhong University of Science and Technology, was recently established in Wuhan, and simultaneously signed an agreement to co-build the Optics Valley Intelligent Sensor Innovation Research Institute, aiming to establish a globally influential intelligent sensor industry hub by 2030. Beijing and Tianjin are focusing on the field of embodied intelligence, successively issuing the “Implementation Plan for Accelerating the Construction of an All-Area Artificial Intelligence City in Beijing (2025)” and the “Action Plan for Promoting the Innovative Development of Artificial Intelligence in Tianjin (2025-2027),” both making relevant deployments for technological breakthroughs and research and application of sensors in humanoid robots.
“The R&D innovation capabilities and production process levels of domestic sensor manufacturing enterprises are also steadily improving,” said Gao Chengfei, director of Guangzhou Tiaoyuan Marketing Consulting Management Co., in an interview. From core component design to packaging and testing, the technical shortcomings of enterprises are being continuously addressed, and key performance indicators such as product stability, accuracy, and reliability have significantly improved. This not only gradually meets the domestic market’s demand for high-quality sensors but also allows domestic sensors to stand out in the international market due to their cost-performance advantages.
According to Zhu Keli, founder of the National Research Institute for New Economy and director of the Bay Area Low Altitude Economy Research Institute, in the future, China’s sensor industry will further develop towards miniaturization, intelligence, and integration. With technological iteration, its application scenarios are rapidly breaking through traditional boundaries, extending into emerging fields such as smart healthcare, autonomous driving, and robot interaction.
Business Progress Under Attention
The upstream of the sensor industry chain includes raw materials, core components, and production equipment supply; the midstream mainly includes the design, manufacturing, and packaging testing of various sensors; and the downstream application fields mainly include consumer electronics, automotive electronics, industrial control, and smart healthcare.
According to data from the Choice financial terminal, in the past month, 35 listed companies in the sensor concept stocks have undergone institutional research, while the application landing, mass production progress, and order situation of listed companies in the industry chain in the sensor field have become the focus of market attention.
On September 18, Zhejiang Fulai New Materials Co., Ltd. stated on the investor interaction platform that the company’s flexible sensors and tactile perception systems have already received small batch orders from dexterous hand companies and humanoid robot companies.
On September 17, a relevant person in charge of Xiamen Guangpu Electronics Co., Ltd. stated that the company’s optical integrated sensor packaging products are currently being applied in fields such as robotics, and the company is actively laying out the application of optoelectronic coding and flexible materials in robot joint control, exploring the application of flexible sensors in core tactile components of dexterous hands and other robots.
Expert An Guangyong from the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce Mergers and Acquisitions Committee stated in an interview that listed companies in the sensor industry chain should anchor incremental markets such as robotics, focus on core sensors such as tactile and force control, accelerate the tackling of materials, processes, and algorithm technologies to build barriers; at the same time, verify technology with mass production orders, dilute costs, steadily promote the localization of chip production, balance innovation with supply chain security, and then rely on segmented advantages to expand domestic and international scenarios, enhancing the proportion of business revenue.
Source: Securities Daily