China Microfluidics Market Overview, 2029

The microfluidics market in China has evolved considerably since early development in the early years of the 2000s, from primarily a tool for miniaturizing laboratory processes to a driver of advanced biomedical applications. While it was initially embraced at academic and research institutions for biochemical and drug discovery processes, it has slowly ventured into the mainstream as a critical sector driving advancements in the healthcare, biotechnology, and nanotechnology sectors across the country. A key foundation for this advance has been the development of appropriate technology, and so China has hit important milestones for the development of sophisticated microfluidic platforms—for example, lab-on-a-chip devices. These were the innovations critical for revolutionizing the diagnostic capabilities to faster, more accurate testing at reduced cost, critical in this health landscape with a huge population. Growth in China can be demonstrated by the number of domestic companies and research institutes related to microfluidic technologies that have now become key in this sector's development. Interaction among academia, industry, governments, and other stakeholders has provided an edge and fashioned a conducive environment for innovation and its subsequent commercialization. Great institutional efforts have been made by institutions like Tsinghua University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, among others, in establishing new frontiers for microfluidic applications, toward which it has significantly contributed to the growth and competitiveness of the sector whenever placed within a world perspective. The microfluidics market in China has a few challenges. First, infra-prestructure is limited and access to advanced manufacturing technology is restricted, which makes it tough to scale production to meet rising market demand. Moreover, a very strict complex regulatory environment with the NMPA means that companies are faced with tough challenges in introducing new microfluidic devices into the market. Concerns around intellectual property protection persist as well, where continued efforts are required to ensure the safety of innovative work in a conducive environment for the transfer of technology and commercialization. The Chinese government has thus far created a series of schemes and policies to boost the growth of the microfluidics industry. In such designs as the National Key Research and Development Program, the Strategic Emerging Industries Development Plan, there is an important funding, incentives, and policy support provided to develop innovations for the improvement of the industry with a general objective to enhance competitiveness.

According to the research report "China Microfluidics Market Overview, 2029," published by Bonafide Research, the China Microfluidics market is anticipated to add to more than USD 2 Billion by 2024–29.Advances in microfabrication techniques have enabled miniaturization of microfluidic devices and integration of numerous functionalities on a chip, greatly facilitating the development of compact, portable devices that can perform complicated biochemical assays and molecular analysis. Apart from applications in the traditional biomedical field, microfluidics in China is spreading into new areas as varied as agriculture, which includes soil testing and pesticide detection, food safety, which includes pathogen detection, and environmental monitoring through water analysis. Such applications are able to exploit the precision and sensitivity of microfluidic devices for a wide range of analytical requirements. As technological improvement goes on, the affordability remains out of reach for most users since cost remains the major entry factor towards the implementation of microfluidic devices in most of the resource-constrained settings. The manufactures and developers struggle to reduce the cost without compromising the quality and performance characteristics of their product. Due to a lack of standards or protocols in the microfluidics field, and the unavailability of interoperable platforms in general, often inter-device operability and sharing of data between different systems turn out to be very challenging problems. Industry standards and protocols set up correspondence to come up with market transparency, reliability, and interoperability. Fast development in microfluidics requires workers in the interdisciplinary area of microfluidics engineering, biotechnology, nanotechnology, and data science. Finally, education, training programs, and bridging of academia with the industry will be necessary to fill this gap in skills and talent to support the sustained growth of the industry. Having been quite appropriate in putting up the right kind of infrastructure, incentives, and policy support for their high-tech industries including microfluidics, China has built a number of high-tech development zones and innovation parks. Such zones encourage the concentration of technology firms, institutions, and support services that spur innovation ecosystems. Among the national strategies implemented and emphasized by the Chinese government are "Made in China 2025" and "Internet Plus," which have turned technological innovation and digital transformation into something highly valued across industries. These strategies encourage investment in high-tech sectors like microfluidics to create spillover benefits for improving the competitiveness of the industries as a whole and national economic growth.

The China microfluidics market has a wide variety of products, ranging from microfluidic-based devices to microfluidic components. Microfluidic-based devices are integrated systems which are run through the application of microfluidics in diagnostics, drug discovery, synthesis of chemicals, among others. Such devices allow for low volumes of samples, high throughput rates, and very precise control over reaction conditions. The leading microfluidic-based devices in China include gene sequencers, point-of-care diagnostic devices, and drug discovery platforms. Microfluidic components, on the other hand, can be considered as the building blocks of microfluidic-based devices. Examples of such microfluidic components would be microchannels, micropumps, microvalves, microsensors, and microactuators. As a matter of fact, microchannels are the most used microfluidic component and have the function of transporting fluids in microfluidic devices. Micropumps control the flow of fluids; microvalves regulate the flow of fluids. Microsensors help in identifying changes in physical or chemical properties of fluids, while microactuators manipulate fluids. The leading microfluidic components established in China include microchannels, micropumps, and microvalves. On quality, the Chinese-made microfluidic chips are criticized by both Chinese and Western integrators. Chinese microfluidic device manufacturers are primarily oriented to the production of low-end chips and still remain incapable of producing complex ones—like those needing multi-mask layers or intensive back-end processing. The capability of delivering an entire product is not in the hands of most Chinese microfluidic device manufacturers, and therefore, they need to enter into several partnerships. There is a broad application of polymers in China as suitable materials for microfluidic devices since they are low-cost, easily processed, and biocompatible. Nevertheless, glass and silicon could also be used in specific applications that call for high precision and optical transparency. The Chinese microfluidics market caters to various end-users, including hospitals and diagnostic centers, pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, academic and research institutes, and others such as Contract Research Organizations and industrial users.

In the Chinese microfluidics market, a number of materials find applications in the fabrication of microfluidic devices or components. The used material type is targeted by applications, desired performance, and cost factor. Polymers have been used the most in microfluidic devices in China due to the fact that they are very cheap, easy to fabricate, and capable of being biocompatible. PDMS accounts for one of the normally applied polymers in microfluidics since it is optically transparent and it is permeable gases with good biocompatibility. For example, Suzhou Institute of Biomedical Engineering and Technology, a company based in China, utilizes PDMS in the fabrication of microchannels for life sciences diagnostics applications. The other very common material used in microfluidics is glass. This is mainly due to the intrinsic high optical transparency, resistance to chemicals, and thermal stability of the material. Shanghai Micronano Technology Co., Ltd., a Chinese company, offers glass-based microfluidic devices for biotechnical and medical device applications. The main reasons it finds application in microfluidics are that it has very high mechanical strength, thermal stability, and biocompatibility. China's Hangzhou Microfluidic Chip Co., Ltd. is a supplier of silicon-based microfluidic devices used for drug delivery and chemical synthesis. The protein sequencing solutions that reach the market position themselves as new competitors to traditional mass spectrometry techniques applied to protein characterizations. A microfluidic module, generally called a flow cell, actually forms the heart of NGS technologies, typically based on glass and/or silicon wafer material. These wafers are subsequently microstructured by semiconductor manufacturing processes such as photolithography or UV-Nanoimprint Lithography (UV-NIL). Flow cells made from glass, otherwise known as passive flow cells, have advantages in optical performance due to their low fluorescence, high optical transmittance, and the possibility of easy functionalization of their surface. They are microstructured over a relatively large active surface area of up to 7,000 mm².

The other materials used in microfluidics in China include paper, ceramics, hydrogels, and metals. Paper-based microfluidics are inexpensive, portable devices that are disposable where the paper acts as the medium for fluid transport. A Chinese company, Hangzhou LianBio Technology Co., Ltd., offers displays in the realm of paper-based microfluidic devices at point-of-care diagnostics. Ceramic-based microfluidics represent a wide range of advantages, such as high chemical resistance, high-temperature resistance, and biocompatibility. Beijing Microfluidic Chip Technology Co., Ltd., a Chinese company, offers ceramic-based microfluidic devices in environmental monitoring and chemical analysis. Hydrogels, being biocompatible, have been utilized in the manufacture of 3D microfluidic devices for use in tissue engineering and controlled drug delivery. For instance, Guangzhou Biomicrofluidics Technology Co. uses a hydrogel-based microfluidic device for cell culture and drug screening. Some properties of metal-based microfluidics include high electrical conductivity, mechanical strength, and chemical resistance. The Chinese company Shenzhen Mindray Bio-Medical Electronics Co., Ltd. offers metal-based microfluidic devices for medical devices and diagnostics.



The Chinese market has huge potential for growth and diversification in various applications due to the strong research ecosystem, growing healthcare, and industrial innovation. Notably, some developments have occurred within the domain of point-of-care diagnostics in China, specifically faced with major crises to public health, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Institutions like Wuhan Institute of Virology, and corporations like BGI Group, have developed microfluidic-based rapid testing kits, which set a tone that China is able to rapidly adapt microfluidic technologies in cases of urgent healthcare needs. Innovative developments are being taken forward for the drug delivery systems where researchers from institutes like Tsinghua University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences are working on microfluidic platforms that deliver drugs with advanced mechanisms of controlled release, opening new avenues in the treatment of diseases like cancer. The investment of China in the life sciences is helping the pharmaceutical and biotechnology research adopt microfluidic technologies in high-throughput screening, organ-on-a-chip models, and personalized medicine approaches. Companies such as WuXi AppTec have implemented microfluidic platforms within their drug discovery process, allowing for accelerated development of novel therapeutics. Importantly, the Chinese push toward precision medicine serves to engender an in vitro diagnostics sector powered by microfluidic devices, currently being developed for genetic testing to liquid biopsies. Advanced institutions involved in developing microfluidic diagnostic platforms include the Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology. Besides healthcare, the China microfluidics market finds its growth potential in environment testing and industrial applications aimed at solving the country's environmental problems and greasing the wheel for its manufacturing sector. The Institute of Urban Environment from the Chinese Academy of Sciences is developing microfluidic sensors for monitoring the quality of urban water, while companies in the semiconductor sector are launching microfluidic cooling systems for the advanced designs of chips. This diverse application landscape is underpinned by strong Chinese manufacturing capabilities, government initiatives such as the "Made in China 2025" plan, and huge investments in research and development.

The Chinese market is set to be driven by the large health system, growing pharmaceutical industries, and a strong scientific research culture. Widely encouraged utilization within hospitals and diagnostic centers, one of the key end-user segments for this market, includes microfluidic technologies used in point-of-care testing and rapid diagnostic applications. For instance, the use of point-of-care systems implementing microfluidic technologies occurring at the West China Hospital in Sichuan for the fast blood analysis has reduced dramatically the time for critical diagnostics. Similarly, the use of microfluidic devices in the fast-testing process of COVID-19 at the Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University has had the hospital at the forefront, and this proves the potential of the technology for effective public health crisis management. Other growing indications include pharmaceutical and biological companies, in which those such as WuXi AppTec and BeiGene have begun in the adoption process of microfluidic platforms with respect to drug discovery and development. These work-related applications are related to high-throughput screening, organs on chips and precision medicine initiatives. Hutchinson MediPharma, for instance, has recently applied the microfluidic device in its studies of drug metabolism and toxicity, in which it has quickened the development pipeline of oncology drugs. Moreover, many microfluidic innovations are being led by China's academic and research institutes, which have made formidable levels of investment in scientific research. Prestigious institutions such as Tsinghua University, Peking University, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences have been in the lead in pushing further research on microfluidics. For instance, the Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology has progressed its way forward to develop one of the most cutting-edge microfluidic chips of the device for single-cell analysis, contributing to new cancer research and stem cell biology. The "others"—contract research organizations and industrial users—must also be counted among those the microfluidic technologies are bringing on board. For example, various contract research organizations, such as GenScript, now offer services for antibody discovery and optimization. On the industrial front, companies like Lenovo are exploring microfluidic cooling systems for entirely new categories of electronics, while environmental monitoring firms are working on microfluidic sensors for the testing of air and water quality in China's rapidly urbanizing cities. This diverse end-user landscape is possible due to China's strong manufacturing capabilities, and companies like Microfluidic ChipShop even construct production facilities in the country to meet the scaling demand. Other factors that drive the market include various government initiatives such as the "Healthy China 2030" plan and the "Made in China 2025" strategy, which focuses on making major breakthroughs in high-end manufacturing for the health technology segment. Nevertheless, it still suffers from some challenges in terms of regulatory and standardization complexities for related applications. For instance, Indee Lab enters into sales and distribution rights with Sunko Instruments for Hydropore RUO in China. Sunko has operated in the distribution of microfluidic instruments for the life sciences industry for many years in China. The collaboration will avail Indee Labs of the marketing and distribution channel for Hydropore RUO, all future versions, inclusive of Hydropore Cell Therapy, into China.

Considered in this report
• Historic year: 2018
• Base year: 2023
• Estimated year: 2024
• Forecast year: 2029

Aspects covered in this report
• Microfluids market Outlook with its value and forecast along with its segments
• Various drivers and challenges
• On-going trends and developments
• Top profiled companies
• Strategic recommendation

By Product Type
• Microfluidic-based Devices
• Microfluidic Components (Microfluidic Chips, Micro Pumps, Microneedles and other Mocrofluids Components Type)

By Material
• Polymer
• Glass
• Silicon
• Other Materials (Paper-based microfluidics, Ceramic-based microfluidics, Hydrogels, Metal-based microfluidics)

By Application
• Point-of-care diagnostics
• Drug delivery systems
• Pharmaceutical and biotechnology research
• In vitro diagnostics
• Others (e.g., environmental testing, industrial applications)

By End User
• Hospitals and diagnostic centers
• Pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies
• Academic and research institutes
• Others (e.g., contract research organizations, industrial users)

The approach of the report:
This report consists of a combined approach of primary and secondary research. Initially, secondary research was used to get an understanding of the market and list the companies that are present in it. The secondary research consists of third-party sources such as press releases, annual reports of companies, and government-generated reports and databases. After gathering the data from secondary sources, primary research was conducted by conducting telephone interviews with the leading players about how the market is functioning and then conducting trade calls with dealers and distributors of the market. Post this; we have started making primary calls to consumers by equally segmenting them in regional aspects, tier aspects, age group, and gender. Once we have primary data with us, we can start verifying the details obtained from secondary sources.

Intended audience
This report can be useful to industry consultants, manufacturers, suppliers, associations, and organizations related to the Microfluids industry, government bodies, and other stakeholders to align their market-centric strategies. In addition to marketing and presentations, it will also increase competitive knowledge about the industry.