"China Completes Final Puzzle of Space Rise… Threatens U.S. Hegemony," Think Tank Warns 'Why'

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"A U.S. national security think tank has warned that global space hegemony, long led by the United States in markets such as low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite communications, could be shaken. This is because China has recently achieved consecutive successes in demonstrating reusable rocket technology, laying the groundwork for launching large-scale satellite constellations at low cost. Analysts suggest that just as Huawei once dominated the global satellite communication (SATCOM) equipment market by leveraging price competitiveness, a 'Huawei of space' could emerge."

"In a recent op-ed for Nikkei Asia, senior researcher Kathleen Callery and researcher Sam Brzesnick of the Georgetown University Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET) stated that 'recent consecutive successes by Chinese companies in launching reusable rockets have completed the final puzzle piece of China's space rise.' They added that this 'substantially threatens U.S. hegemony in the global space market.'"

"In fact, LandSpace, a private Chinese aerospace company (Chinese name: Lanzhou Hangtian), successfully achieved vertical landing of its Zhuque-3 rocket's first stage last month. This followed the July recovery of the Changzheng 10B booster by state-owned enterprise CASC (China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation) at sea. Both state-owned and private companies have now achieved success in orbit-level rocket recovery. Local media outlets such as South China Morning Post (SCMP) noted that Chinese companies became the third and fourth globally to successfully recover launch vehicles after U.S. firms SpaceX and Blue Origin."

"Particularly, LandSpace's Zhuque-3 is seen as highly significant for overcoming its initial failure in December last year. During the first attempt, while the second stage successfully reached orbit, the first stage failed to reignite its engine just before landing, resulting in an explosion engulfed in flames. LandSpace improved its technology by reducing the number of landing ignition engines to simplify the system and adding autonomous safety control functions that utilize predicted landing zones."

"Successful tests of reusable launch vehicles are a key factor that could reshape the competitive landscape between the United States and China for building satellite internet networks. China has long planned to construct satellite networks comprising tens of thousands of satellites, including the national low Earth orbit project 'Guowang' (13,000 units) and Shanghai-supported 'Qianfan' (15,000 units). Including satellite launch plans submitted by Chinese companies to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the total reaches 200,000 satellites."

"CSET researchers noted that while the number of satellites launched from China has been relatively low due to high launch costs for expendable rockets, this is expected to increase dramatically going forward. They pointed out that China had lagged behind the United States only in terms of affordable means to place large numbers of satellites into orbit—a problem now resolved. Additionally, they assessed that hundreds of space companies are active across all sectors including launch, satellite manufacturing, and services."

"The researchers analyzed that China's current space strategy precisely mirrors Huawei's 5G rise a decade ago. In the past, Huawei rapidly captured emerging market telecommunications infrastructure by leveraging price competitiveness through Chinese government subsidies and financial support, growing into the world's largest communications equipment company. Although U.S. allies excluded Huawei equipment from their national government networks citing security risks, Huawei's position in the global market remained largely unshaken."

"CSET researchers also projected that the same pattern could be replicated even in the low Earth orbit satellite communication market, currently dominated by SpaceX's Starlink. If China drastically reduces launch costs through reusable rockets, it could establish itself as a substitute for Starlink and trigger another 'Huawei moment' above the orbit."

"The researchers also emphasized that China's successful reusable launches extend beyond specific companies to directly impact U.S. national security and industrial ecosystems. They stated, 'Achievements in China serve as a strong warning that U.S. space hegemony is no longer guaranteed,' and advised that 'strategic responses must be taken promptly, including enhancing competitiveness in the private launch vehicle industry and establishing reasonable space governance with allied nations.'"

"Japan is introducing 'robot-integrated homes' where ceiling rail-mounted robotic arms assist with household tasks. Amid fierce global competition in humanoid (human-shaped) robot development, there is growing recognition that shifting the paradigm to robotize entire houses warrants attention."

"According to Bloomberg, MW (Mew), a two-year-old startup headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, has developed a 'built-in robot' system that installs robotic arms dedicated to household chores by laying rails on house ceilings instead of creating human-shaped robots."

"Two robotic arms with pincer-like hands move along ceiling rails to fold laundry and transport shopping baskets. In recent demonstrations, the robots successfully distinguished between pantry items stored at room temperature and food requiring refrigeration, and neatly folded towels taken from a dryer."

"Narita Shuzo, CEO of MW, stated, 'It is realistically impossible for Japan to catch up with China in the humanoid robot market. Instead, we believe there is potential by applying Japan's strengths in industrial robots and hardware technology to the housing construction sector, where AI adoption has been slow.'"

"In Japan's compact housing environment, ceiling-mounted mobile robots are considered far more efficient than bipedal humanoid robots. Since they move from the ceiling without occupying living space, they offer advantages in safety and control."

"The company raised a total of 3 billion yen (approximately 28 billion won) in its seed round from venture capital firms under major Japanese financial groups including Mitsubishi UFJ, Mitsui Sumitomo, and Fukuoka Financial. It plans to raise approximately 10 billion yen (about 92 billion won) in Series A funding within the next two years to cover AI and hardware development costs."

"The first launch of robot-equipped homes is targeted for 2028. By 2035, the company aims to supply robot-integrated homes at an annual scale of 10,000 units, representing about 5% of Japan's current annual new housing construction volume. Starting in 2029, it plans to expand its technology application scope beyond overseas markets to include hotels and convenience stores."

"In August this year alone, 29 new unicorns (private companies with valuations of $10 thousand won or more) emerged globally. Due to the concentration of funding in deep tech sectors such as AI, robotics, and semiconductors, a higher proportion of startups established recently have been recognized for valuations in the trillions of won and directly entered the unicorn ranks."

"According to global corporate information platform Crunchbase, 29 global companies joined the new unicorn ranks last August, with their combined valuation reaching $63 billion (approximately 87.3 trillion won). More than one-third of these were early-stage startups established less than three years ago."

"By country, the United States led overwhelmingly with 16 unicorns, followed by China with four. South Korea, India, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, Switzerland, Germany, and Turkey each produced one unicorn."

"By industry, AI software generated the most new unicorns, followed by semiconductors, robotics, financial services, data centers, security, and energy. New unicorns also emerged in space and defense sectors."

"Among individual companies, XPeng Robotics, a robot subsidiary of Chinese firm XPeng, recorded the highest valuation at $6.3 billion (approximately 870 billion won). U.S. AI photonic semiconductor company Lumilens ($5.5 billion), AI model platform RiverAI ($5 billion), and semiconductor manufacturing startup Source Foundry ($5 billion) also received high valuations. South Korean AI semiconductor startup DeepX also entered the unicorn ranks in this survey with a corporate valuation of approximately $2.2 billion (about 290 billion won)."

"Meanwhile, during the same period, three companies including Chinese Unitree Robotics went public through initial public offerings (IPOs) and were removed from the unicorn list. Six other companies—generative AI platform Hugging Face, AI routing service OpenRouter, and no-code collaboration tool Airtable—were acquired by major big tech firms and funds via mergers and acquisitions (M&A), resulting in their exclusion from the unicorn list."

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