China's medical imaging industry is entering a new phase.

For years, the country's high-end imaging market was associated primarily with multinational manufacturers. Today, international companies remain major technology suppliers, but Chinese manufacturers have built increasingly complete portfolios across CT, MRI, molecular imaging, X-ray, ultrasound and image-guided intervention.

More importantly, competition is moving upward.

Chinese companies are no longer competing only in conventional DR, entry-level CT or lower-priced ultrasound. They are now developing photon-counting CT, whole-body ultra-high-field MRI, digital PET/CT, high-end ultrasound, angiography systems and AI-enabled imaging platforms.

At the same time, China's purchasing environment is changing. Equipment renewal programs, centralized procurement, government procurement rules and large medical equipment configuration requirements increasingly affect how imaging systems reach hospitals.

For international MedTech executives, the Chinese medical imaging market in 2026 is therefore best understood through three questions:

Which technologies are becoming competitive?Which Chinese companies matter?And how is the hospital purchasing environment changing?

China’s Medical Imaging Industry at a Glance

The companies above are representative examples rather than a market-share ranking.

Medical Imaging Is Not One Market

An ultrasound system and a PET/CT scanner may both belong to medical imaging, but their commercial logic is completely different.

A portable ultrasound system may be purchased by an emergency department, anesthesiology department, ICU or community medical institution.

A 3T MRI is a major capital-equipment decision involving radiology, hospital management, equipment departments, facilities requirements and long-term service.

A PET/CT purchase has another layer of regulation because it falls within China's large medical equipment configuration licensing system.

The main modalities therefore need to be considered separately.

This is why a single number for the "China medical imaging market" often tells global executives less than a modality-by-modality analysis.

United Imaging Has Become China’s Most Important Full-Line High-End Imaging Challenger

For international readers trying to understand Chinese imaging, United Imaging Healthcare is the first company to know.

Its portfolio now includes:

• CT;

• MRI;

• molecular imaging;

• digital radiography;

• angiography;

• mammography;

• mobile C-arms;

• medical imaging software;

• and adjacent radiotherapy technologies.

The company's financial scale has also grown substantially.

United Imaging reported RMB13.80 billion in revenue in 2025, an increase of 33.98% year on year, with net profit attributable to shareholders of RMB1.87 billion.

Annual R&D investment reached RMB2.62 billion.

Its international business is increasingly important.

Overseas revenue reached RMB3.43 billion in 2025, up 51.39% year on year. By April 2026, United Imaging said it had expanded into more than 100 countries and regions.

By the end of 2025, it reported more than 640 systems installed in the United States, with installations across more than 90% of U.S. states.

That makes United Imaging strategically different from an imaging company whose competitive significance is limited to China.

For GE HealthCare, Siemens Healthineers, Philips and other global imaging companies, United Imaging is increasingly a competitor in both the Chinese and international markets.

United Imaging Is Also Expanding From Large Imaging Equipment Into Ultrasound

United Imaging historically built its position around large imaging equipment such as CT, MRI and molecular imaging.

That boundary changed in 2025.

The company launched the uSONIQUE ultrasound series, which it described as completing its medical imaging portfolio.

This is strategically important.

A company able to offer:

CT + MRI + PET/CT + DR + angiography + ultrasound + imaging software

can compete for a much larger portion of a hospital's imaging-equipment budget.

It can also pursue hospital-level solutions rather than selling each scanner as an isolated product.

This type of portfolio competition has long been a strength of the major multinational imaging companies.

China now has a domestic company attempting to build a similarly broad platform.

Neusoft Medical Is Another Chinese Company With a Broad Imaging Portfolio

Neusoft Medical Systems represents a different generation of China's imaging industry.

Its current product portfolio covers:

• CT;

• MRI;

• DSA;

• X-ray;

• PET/CT;

• ultrasound;

• and digital medical solutions.

That breadth makes Neusoft one of the relatively small number of Chinese companies capable of participating across several major imaging modalities.

Its recent technology development is particularly important in CT.

In August 2025, Neusoft Medical's NeuViz P10 photon-counting CT received NMPA approval.

The system uses a cadmium-zinc-telluride, or CZT, detector to directly detect X-ray photons rather than using the conventional intermediate light-conversion process.

Neusoft has also continued international deployment of conventional imaging systems. Its official customer information in 2026 includes CT and MRI installations in markets such as Mongolia and Vietnam.

Neusoft therefore illustrates another important point about Chinese imaging:

the country's established imaging manufacturers are also moving into next-generation technology rather than remaining confined to lower-priced conventional equipment.

Photon-Counting CT Is One of the Most Important Technology Developments to Watch

Photon-counting CT is particularly important because it changes the detector architecture at the heart of the CT system.

Conventional energy-integrating detectors typically convert X-rays into light and then into an electrical signal.

Photon-counting detectors can directly detect individual X-ray photons and measure their energy.

Potential benefits include improvements in spatial resolution, material differentiation and dose efficiency, although actual clinical value depends on system architecture, protocols and application.

What matters for understanding China is that this technology is no longer only an overseas development.

In August 2025, China's NMPA confirmed approval of Neusoft Medical's photon-counting CT and stated that a photon-counting CT developed by United Imaging Healthcare had also been approved.

That means two major Chinese imaging companies had already entered the photon-counting CT era by 2025.

For global imaging executives, this is a much more meaningful competitive signal than simply counting how many conventional CT systems Chinese companies can produce.

The technology frontier itself is becoming contested.

MRI Shows the Same Movement Toward the High End

A similar development has occurred in magnetic resonance imaging.

China's NMPA approved a 5.0T whole-body clinical MRI system in 2022.

The regulator stated that the system used a 5.0T superconducting magnet and, through a whole-body transmit coil, enabled clinical whole-body imaging at ultra-high field strength.

United Imaging subsequently commercialized the system as the uMR Jupiter.

By the end of 2024, the company reported that the system had received NMPA, U.S. FDA and European CE approvals.

This is significant because high-field MRI requires much more than increasing magnet strength.

Higher-field systems create engineering and clinical challenges involving:

• magnet design;

• RF transmission;

• field uniformity;

• coil design;

• specific absorption rate;

• image artifacts;

• sequence development;

• and clinical validation.

China's MRI industry therefore increasingly includes competition at both ends of the market:

broad access to conventional MRI and technology development at the ultra-high-field frontier.

Wandong Medical Represents Another Important Domestic Imaging Platform

Wandong Medical has a long-established position in China's imaging-equipment industry and today maintains a portfolio across several modalities.

Its current products include:

• 3.0T and 1.5T MRI;

• CT;

• angiography systems;

• digital radiography and fluoroscopy;

• mammography;

• and other X-ray imaging equipment.

Its MRI portfolio ranges from permanent-magnet systems to 1.5T and 3.0T superconducting systems.

Its CT portfolio includes systems designed for both higher-performance applications and county-level medical institutions.

Wandong is useful for international readers because the Chinese imaging landscape is not simply:

United Imaging versus multinational companies.

China contains multiple generations of imaging manufacturers with different product portfolios, target hospitals and technology strategies.

Ultrasound Has a Different Chinese Competitive Structure

Ultrasound should be treated separately from CT and MRI.

The installation requirements are much lower, applications span many more clinical departments, and portable systems create additional use cases in emergency medicine, critical care, anesthesia and point-of-care diagnosis.

China has several substantial ultrasound manufacturers.

Two of the most important are Mindray and SonoScape.

Mindray

Medical imaging is one of Mindray's major business lines, centered primarily on ultrasound.

In the first quarter of 2026, Mindray's medical imaging business generated RMB1.396 billion in revenue.

The company's international ultrasound business grew by more than 10% year on year, while international revenue accounted for 67% of the medical imaging business during the quarter.

Mindray also continued to launch imaging products in 2026, including new intraoperative visualization and portable ultrasound systems.

The international revenue mix is important.

For ultrasound, Chinese competition is already clearly a global phenomenon rather than a China-only issue.

SonoScape

SonoScape, or Shenzhen-based SonoScape Medical, is another major Chinese ultrasound manufacturer.

Its portfolio includes cart-based and portable ultrasound systems, alongside a large endoscopy business.

Its 2025 annual report describes a complete ultrasound portfolio spanning high-, mid- and entry-level systems, including both cart-based and portable platforms.

The company has also been adding AI functions to ultrasound workflows. Its annual report states that it released or updated more than 20 AI-related technologies across obstetrics, gynecology and superficial-organ applications during 2025.

This makes ultrasound another segment in which Chinese companies are trying to move upward through image quality, workflow and software rather than competing purely on acquisition cost.

AI Is Increasingly Becoming Part of the Scanner Rather Than a Separate Product

Medical imaging was one of the earliest areas of healthcare to adopt artificial intelligence.

But the commercial structure is evolving.

Much of the discussion several years ago centered on standalone AI algorithms:

Can AI detect a pulmonary nodule?Can it identify a lesion?Can it help interpret an image?

Imaging manufacturers are increasingly integrating AI into the equipment itself.

Applications can include:

• patient positioning;

• scan planning;

• image acquisition;

• reconstruction;

• noise reduction;

• measurement;

• anatomy recognition;

• workflow automation;

• quality control;

• and post-processing.

United Imaging reported that more than 20 of its products had received U.S. FDA clearance as AI-enabled medical devices by the end of 2025.

SonoScape's 2025 disclosures similarly describe AI functions integrated into ultrasound platforms, including automated recognition and measurement.

Wandong's current imaging portfolio also incorporates AI-based workflow and image-processing functions in products including CT and angiography systems.

The implication is important:

AI competition in medical imaging increasingly occurs inside the imaging platform itself.

The value of AI is therefore becoming tied to the productivity and clinical performance of the scanner.

Multinational Companies Remain Important — the Market Has Become More Competitive, Not Simply “Domestic”

The rise of Chinese manufacturers should not be interpreted as the disappearance of global imaging companies.

GE HealthCare continues to offer Chinese customers a broad imaging portfolio including CT, MRI, nuclear medicine, ultrasound and image-guided intervention systems.

Philips continues to offer CT, MRI, interventional X-ray and other radiology solutions in China.

Siemens Healthineers maintains one of the world's broadest imaging portfolios across CT, MRI, angiography, molecular imaging, X-ray and ultrasound.

The structural change is therefore more accurately described as:

multinational full-line imaging companies are now competing with increasingly capable Chinese full-line and specialist manufacturers.

And the basis of competition extends beyond scanner specifications.

Hospitals also consider:

• clinical applications;

• throughput;

• image quality;

• radiation dose;

• uptime;

• maintenance;

• service response;

• installation requirements;

• software;

• AI;

• lifecycle cost;

• and purchase price.

In high-value medical imaging, a strong scanner without a strong service organization is rarely enough.

The Hospital Purchasing Environment Is Changing

Technology is only one side of China's imaging market.

The purchasing environment is also evolving.

In 2024, China's national equipment-renewal policy specifically encouraged qualified medical institutions to accelerate the renewal and upgrading of equipment including medical imaging, radiotherapy, remote diagnosis and surgical robotics.

This created a policy framework supporting replacement of aging medical equipment and improvements in hospital infrastructure.

But the way that public institutions buy equipment is also becoming more structured.

In July 2026, the National Health Commission and two other national authorities issued new requirements for centralized procurement of medical equipment by public medical and health institutions.

Where budget-managed funds are used to purchase medical equipment included in a departmental centralized procurement catalogue, the purchase must follow the departmental centralized procurement mechanism.

This does not mean that every CT, MRI or ultrasound system in China is now purchased through one national centralized tender.

The applicable procurement method still depends on the equipment, funding source, procurement catalogue and local implementation.

But the broader direction matters:

hospital imaging procurement is becoming more budget-conscious, standardized and procurement-driven.

That can favor companies capable of combining competitive pricing with nationwide delivery and service.

China’s New “Domestic Product” Rule Is Particularly Important for Imaging Companies

Another major change took effect on January 1, 2026.

China introduced a government procurement standard for determining whether a product qualifies as a domestic product.

Where qualifying domestic and non-domestic products compete in the same applicable government procurement process, the qualifying domestic product receives a 20% price deduction for evaluation purposes.

This is an evaluation preference rather than a requirement for the supplier to reduce the final contract price by 20%.

For multinational imaging companies, an even more important detail is the definition of "domestic."

The policy is based primarily on production in China, not on whether the manufacturer is Chinese-owned.

The government has explicitly stated that state-owned, private Chinese and foreign-invested companies are to be treated equally under the policy.

That distinction matters enormously in medical imaging.

The competitive issue is therefore not simply:

Chinese imaging brand versus foreign imaging brand.

For applicable government procurement, another distinction increasingly matters:

equipment produced in China versus equipment imported as a finished product.

For multinational manufacturers with substantial Chinese manufacturing operations, localization can therefore affect procurement competitiveness as well as supply-chain economics.

PET/CT and PET/MR Have an Additional Market-Access Requirement

Medical imaging companies also need to distinguish ordinary product registration from China's Large Medical Equipment Configuration License system.

Under China's current 2023 catalogue, PET/MR and PET/CT are Class B large medical equipment.

Their configuration is managed at the provincial level.

The current catalogue also classifies:

• first-time configuration of large medical equipment costing RMB50 million or more per unit as Class A;

• and first-time configuration of equipment costing RMB30–50 million as Class B.

Standard CT and MRI systems are not separately named as product categories in the current configuration catalogue.

That means an international manufacturer should distinguish two different regulatory questions:

Product regulation

Has the imaging system received the necessary NMPA registration to be marketed?

Hospital configuration

If the equipment falls within the large medical equipment catalogue, is the hospital authorized to configure it?

NMPA registration regulates the product.

Configuration licensing regulates the medical institution's ability to deploy specified categories of major equipment.

For PET/CT and PET/MR, both issues can matter.

Equipment Renewal and Budget Pressure Can Exist at the Same Time

At first glance, China's imaging market contains two apparently contradictory signals.

The government is supporting medical equipment renewal.

At the same time, hospitals can face significant budget constraints.

Mindray, for example, reported in its Q1 2026 disclosure that domestic medical institutions were generally experiencing operating pressure and tighter equipment procurement budgets, and described China's medical-equipment industry as still being in a weak recovery cycle.

These two conditions can coexist.

A hospital may need to replace an old CT.

Government policy may encourage the replacement.

But the hospital still needs:

• a project;

• funding;

• procurement approval;

• appropriate technical specifications;

• and a commercially acceptable bid.

For suppliers, this makes total lifecycle economics increasingly important.

Hospitals may evaluate not only purchase price but also:

• throughput;

• electricity and cooling;

• helium requirements for MRI;

• tube replacement cost for CT;

• detector reliability;

• maintenance;

• software upgrades;

• service response;

• and usable life.

The result can be intense price competition even while technological requirements continue to rise.

China Is Simultaneously Moving Upmarket and Down the Healthcare System

Medical imaging demand in China does not come from one type of hospital.

Large tertiary hospitals may purchase equipment for:

• advanced oncology;

• cardiovascular imaging;

• neurological imaging;

• molecular imaging;

• scientific research;

• or complex intervention.

County hospitals and regional medical centers may have a different priority:

providing reliable CT, MRI and ultrasound access closer to patients.

That creates two simultaneous directions for the industry.

Upward

Chinese manufacturers are developing:

• photon-counting CT;

• 5T MRI;

• advanced PET/CT;

• high-end ultrasound;

• sophisticated angiography;

• and AI-enabled imaging.

Outward

Companies are also developing equipment and service models intended for broader regional and international deployment.

These are not contradictory strategies.

The same manufacturer can use a high-end flagship product to establish technological credibility while relying on broader-volume products for scale.

Internationalization Is One of the Most Important Changes

The development of Chinese imaging equipment matters outside China because several companies are already building international businesses.

United Imaging's overseas revenue reached RMB3.43 billion in 2025, and the company reported operations in more than 100 countries and regions.

Mindray's international business accounted for 67% of its medical imaging revenue in Q1 2026, with international ultrasound revenue growing by more than 10%.

Neusoft Medical continues to deploy imaging equipment internationally and reported clinical installations in markets including Vietnam and Mongolia during 2026.

This creates a strategic shift.

A Chinese CT or ultrasound company that competes with a multinational manufacturer in a Chinese hospital may also compete with the same company in:

• Southeast Asia;

• Central Asia;

• the Middle East;

• Latin America;

• Europe;

• or the United States.

China is therefore becoming both:

a major medical imaging market

and

a development and manufacturing base for global medical imaging competitors.

Five Chinese Medical Imaging Companies Global Executives Should Know

For international readers who want a short starting list, these five companies represent different parts of the market.

This list is not intended as a ranking and does not cover every Chinese imaging manufacturer.

Additional companies are active in CT, X-ray, ultrasound, imaging components, AI and specialist imaging categories.

What Global Imaging Companies Should Watch in China

For international executives, eight questions are particularly useful.

The Bottom Line

China's medical imaging industry in 2026 cannot be summarized simply as "domestic substitution."

The industry is undergoing several changes at once.

CT is moving into photon-counting technology, with both United Imaging and Neusoft already receiving NMPA approval for photon-counting systems.

MRI now includes a Chinese-developed 5T whole-body clinical platform that has subsequently obtained regulatory approvals in China, the United States and Europe.

Ultrasound already has Chinese companies with substantial international businesses, particularly Mindray and SonoScape.

Hospital procurement is becoming more structured, while government-supported equipment renewal continues to create replacement demand.

And local manufacturing now has an additional strategic dimension because China's government procurement rules provide a 20% price-evaluation preference for qualifying domestically produced products while requiring equal treatment of Chinese-owned and foreign-invested manufacturers.

The competitive landscape is therefore becoming more complex.

China still contains major multinational imaging platforms including GE HealthCare, Siemens Healthineers and Philips.

But they increasingly compete alongside Chinese companies that have moved beyond basic equipment into:

high-end hardware + core imaging technology + software + AI + clinical applications + international service networks.

For global MedTech executives, the most important question is no longer:

Can Chinese companies make medical imaging equipment?

That question has already been answered.

The more useful questions in 2026 are:

Which technologies can Chinese companies lead?Which companies can build global service organizations?How will procurement change the economics of the market?And where will Chinese imaging manufacturers compete internationally next?

Those questions provide a better map of China's medical imaging industry.

August 19, 2026