Alibaba Invests in Yuanxin Satellite as Qianfan Constellation Reaches 238 Satellites

Shanghai Yuanxin Satellite Technology Co. , Ltd. has completed a business registration change, with Hangzhou Alibaba Venture Capital Co. officially registered as a new shareholder, marking Alibaba's entry into the low-orbit satellite constellation sector. Yuanxin Satellite, established in March 2018, is the construction and operation entity for the low-orbit mega-constellation "Qianfan Constellation." According to a transaction announcement published by the Shanghai United Assets and Equity Exchange on August 17, Yuanxin Satellite completed a RMB 6.976 billion capital increase, introducing 18 investors in this round. Among them, a consortium of 24 institutions, including the Guotiao Phase II Synergy Development Fund, contributed approximately RMB 5.76 billion, accounting for 82.6% of the total, with the remaining funds coming from additional investments by 17 existing shareholders. The 18 investors collectively acquired a 13.94% stake in Yuanxin Satellite, implying a post-investment valuation of approximately RMB 50 billion. The business registration change in early September showed that Hangzhou Alibaba Venture Capital and SAIC Motor Financial Holdings Management Co. were officially added as new shareholders.

Yuanxin Satellite completed a RMB 6.7 billion Series A financing in early 2024, with investors including China Development Bank Manufacturing Transformation and Upgrading Fund, Shanghai Lianhe Investment, Guoke Capital, Guosheng Capital, SAIC Hengxu Capital, Rongmei Fund, Guotai Junan, and Zhongke Chuangxing. The Qianfan Constellation launched its first batch of 18 satellites in August 2024, officially commencing large-scale networking. Starting in 2026, the Qianfan Constellation has been launched at high density; on June 5, the satellite count increased to 200, and the AIS satellite system completed networking; on June 19, Yuanxin's direct-to-phone test satellite completed its first call, providing a technical foundation for satellite mobile handheld audio-video and broadband data communications. To date, the Qianfan Constellation has grown to 238 satellites, with plans to complete the first-phase 324-satellite global networking by the end of 2026, officially offering services worldwide and commencing commercial operations.

Alibaba has been involved in the aerospace sector for many years. In 2018, Alibaba launched the "One Station, One Satellite" plan, sending the "Candy Jar" mini space station and the "Tmall International" communications satellite into orbit. Subsequently, Alibaba co-founded Qianxun Location with China North Industries Group, promoting the large-scale application of the BeiDou navigation satellite system. The Zhijiang Laboratory, co-founded by Alibaba, the Zhejiang Provincial Government, and Zhejiang University, is running the "Three-Body Computing Constellation" project, which plans to launch approximately 100 computing satellites by 2027. In May 2025, the first 12 computing satellites of the Three-Body Computing Constellation were successfully placed in orbit; in November 2025, Alibaba's Qwen 3 large model was successfully deployed to the "Xingsuan" Plan 01 Group space computing center, achieving the world's first on-orbit end-to-end inference of a general large model. The first mission of the Three-Body Computing Constellation achieved coordinated operation of all on-orbit computing nodes, with total on-orbit computing power reaching 5 POPS, or 5 quadrillion operations per second, capable of supporting on-orbit deployment and inference of models with up to 140 billion parameters.

Alibaba Cloud has also cooperated with Changguang Satellite to obtain high-resolution multispectral remote sensing data from the Jilin-1 satellite series and has participated in the preparation of the "Yangtze River Delta Space-Based Computing Innovation Consortium."

In terms of industry financing, in the first half of 2026, domestic commercial aerospace disclosed 89 financing events, with a corresponding financing amount of RMB 15.13 billion, exceeding 80% of the total RMB 18.6 billion raised in 2025. At the policy level, the Shanghai Municipal Development and Reform Commission issued the "Shanghai Implementation Plan for Further Promoting Private Investment," which clarifies the improvement of Shanghai's key industry map, focusing on sub-sectors of emerging pillar industries such as commercial aerospace and satellite internet, and increasing targeted investment attraction and industrial chain investment. Under International Telecommunication Union rules, the Qianfan Constellation must complete deployment of all satellites within 14 years of the first satellite launch.