Arterial Network Releases '2026 White Paper on Biomanufacturing: Breakthroughs in Key Equipment, Process Innovation, and Domestic High-End Product Advancement'

In January last year, VCBeat released an analytical report on the biomanufacturing industry, providing a comprehensive analysis of ten key issues in the sector, such as the key definitions, core values, and innovation-driven logic of biomanufacturing. Now, the highly anticipated white paper on the biomanufacturing industry, prominently launched in early 2026, has arrived as scheduled.

This white paper focuses on innovations in key equipment and processes for biomanufacturing, exploring advancements in supporting areas such as bioreactors, AI-enabled biomanufacturing, and monitoring and analytical instrumentation. Building on this foundation, it analyzes process-level innovations, including continuous fermentation technology, integrated microbiome applications, and non-food biomass conversion. Furthermore, it highlights breakthroughs in high-value biomanufactured products, such as recombinant proteins, functional ingredients, and natural products. In doing so, it provides a comprehensive and holistic overview of the value chain logic within the biomanufacturing sector.

This report, completed over a three-month period, features interviews with dozens of experts and entrepreneurs in the field of biomanufacturing. It also synthesizes insightful remarks delivered by guests during events such as training sessions on the construction and operation of biomanufacturing pilot-scale platforms and the Marine Biomanufacturing Conference. The document serves as a阶段性 summary of our understanding of the biomanufacturing industry.

Report Publisher: VCBeat

Report Supporting Organizations: Cono Biotech, Anjiyi, Bloomage Biotechnology, Langkun Environment, Xin'annuo, MicroStructure Factory, Carebios, Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dr. Fang (listed in no particular order)

Key Findings of the Report:

Underlying Innovations in Biomanufacturing Align with Innovations in the Biotechnology and Life Sciences Sectors, all benefiting from cutting-edge breakthroughs in genomics, proteomics, and microbiomics, with a clear process of technology transfer and application: frontier breakthroughs in biotechnology → commercialization of scientific research outcomes → applications in medicine and other fields → applications in the field of biomanufacturing. That is, as foundational biotechnologies continue to advance, the industry progresses in wave-like leaps. Furthermore, as a “latecomer” industry, the biomanufacturing sector can benefit from technological innovations accumulated in areas such as biopharmaceuticals and gene therapy.

China will lead the world in biomanufacturing-related fields.The United States represents innovation driven by breakthroughs in frontier technologies, while China signifies a leap in large-scale mass production capabilities. In other words, leveraging its ability to concentrate resources for breakthroughs, abundant resource supply, and industrialization capabilities, China will become the primary leader and core driver of the global biomanufacturing industry, commanding both supply capacity and strategic influence.

In the above context,Innovative Breakthroughs in China’s Biomanufacturing Sector Center on Enhancing Large-Scale Production Capacity, including key equipment for biomanufacturing such as bioreactors, microbial culture and fermentation processes, and separation and purification processes. From the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology to the industry sector, the primary focus on the aforementioned issues is cost reduction and efficiency enhancement—namely, maximizing product yield with minimal equipment and fixed investment, thereby significantly spreading out the final product price and accelerating the adoption of industry applications.

Domestication of Key Equipment for Biomanufacturing Exhibits an Olive-Shaped Structure with “Strong Middle, Weak Ends”, with upstream “chokepoint” bottlenecks and downstream “capability gaps” coexisting. The core driver of domestic substitution has comprehensively shifted from “cost priority” to a dual logic of “security and controllability” and “technological window.” In the future, the core competitiveness of leading manufacturers will lie not only in the performance metrics of individual devices, but also in their deep understanding of underlying bioprocesses such as cell culture and separation/purification, enabling them to provide full-chain optimization solutions spanning strain construction, process development, scale-up, and production quality control.

The gaps in “reliability, consistency, and intelligence” of domestically produced equipment are a comprehensive reflection of systems engineering and ecosystem capabilities.The gap with the international state-of-the-art extends far beyond precision machining and basic craftsmanship. Its deep-rooted causes lie in the scarcity of data accumulated from long-term, high-value application scenarios, insufficient understanding and consolidation of “know-how” for complex processes, and a weak system for deep integration and collaborative innovation across disciplines (biology, mechanical engineering, automation, software, and materials). As a result, domestically produced equipment exhibits significant shortcomings in long-term operational stability, batch-to-batch consistency, and the level of adaptability and intelligence when facing complex processes.

Breakthroughs in a single device or technological point are insufficient to build a lasting advantage; future competition will be defined by the collaborative innovation ecosystem integrating “industry, academia, research, application, and finance.”Overcoming critical bottlenecks and achieving a leap forward depend on deep collaboration among top-tier talents in materials science, bioengineering, precision manufacturing, software algorithms, and other fields, as well as the early involvement, joint development, and risk-sharing of downstream users (particularly leading biomanufacturing enterprises and process service platforms). Policies are promoting the establishment of a demand-driven research model anchored in application scenarios, through measures such as building networks of pilot-scale testing bases and forming innovation consortia. The aim is to jointly build an autonomous technical standard system and data closed loop, thereby fostering a sustainable industrial innovation ecosystem.

Downstream applications in biomanufacturing are experiencing explosive growth, shifting from a “single-core drive” to a “diversified ecosystem,” thereby creating new demands for differentiated and specialized equipment.Traditional fermentation remains the core market for bioprocessing equipment. However, the most rapid growth is emerging from bio-based materials (PHA/PLA), cultured meat, biofuels, and high-value natural products driven by biomanufacturing. These emerging sectors have fundamentally different requirements for equipment in terms of economic viability (extreme cost sensitivity), process adaptability (non-standardized and diverse), scalability (large-scale fermentation), and sustainability (low carbon emissions) compared to traditional fermentation. This creates substantial opportunities for domestically produced equipment to avoid homogeneous competition and establish high-growth niche markets.

The biomanufacturing industry’s transition from isolated “point” breakthroughs to comprehensive “area” leadership hinges on the establishment of cross-regional industrial clusters and a whole-chain collaborative innovation system.China has initially formed industrial clusters in the Yangtze River Delta (Shanghai, Suzhou), the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. The key to breaking through lies in connecting the entire chain from “basic research (DBTL platform) — core component and material R&D — whole-machine integration and validation — process application and data feedback.” Policies are promoting a “scenario-driven breakthrough” model, guiding upstream and downstream sectors to jointly overcome common technical challenges through national-level pilot-scale platforms and innovation consortia. Future competition will be a comprehensive contest among regional industrial ecosystems in terms of talent aggregation, capital linkage, data sharing, and collaborative standard-setting.

“AI + Biomanufacturing” is a critical gap that the industry urgently needs to address.Continuous, modular, and intelligent approaches are reshaping the foundational processes of biomanufacturing, representing a key track for China to achieve asymmetric leapfrogging. The penetration rate of Continuous Bioprocessing (CBP) technology will continue to rise, as its core equipment—such as continuous-flow bioreactors and continuous chromatography systems—follows technological pathways significantly different from those of traditional batch production facilities. If China’s industry can concentrate resources to build core capabilities in emerging paradigms such as continuous process integration, modular plant design, and data-driven intelligent process control, it has the potential to bypass the patent and ecosystem barriers established by traditional giants in batch technologies, thereby defining process standards for next-generation biomanufacturing. However, at present, the comprehensive implementation of “AI+” still faces considerable challenges.

Prices of biomanufacturing products will continue to exhibit a trend of intense competition.As technology matures and manufacturing processes achieve breakthroughs, the prices of star products in biomanufacturing are expected to decline further, potentially even dropping by half. For relevant companies, this presents both opportunities and challenges. On the positive side, the application scope of biomanufactured products will expand significantly. In particular, some previously expensive ingredients will gradually become more affordable and accessible, finding their way into a wider range of everyday consumer goods such as cosmetics and food, thereby driving overall industry growth. On the negative side, this transition may eliminate companies that lack strong product capabilities and market insight, intensifying industry consolidation and reshuffling.

The above provides an overview of key points from the report. Given the complexity and vast amount of information in the biomanufacturing industry, omissions may inevitably exist. Should any errors be identified, readers are kindly requested to contact us for corrections and revisions.Take a long-term view. VCBeat will continue to delve deeply into the biomanufacturing industry, providing more industry insights and networking services to build an innovation hub for biomanufacturing!

The following is the table of contents:

Table of Contents

Explanation of Core Terms in the Report

Core Views of the Report

Chapter 1: Strong Policies, Heavy Investment, and Large-Scale Industry

I. Analysis of the Drivers for the Development of China's Biomanufacturing Industry

II. Global Positioning and Historical Mission of China’s Biomanufacturing Industry Development

Chapter 2 Overview of Key Equipment and Process Innovations in Biomanufacturing

I. Overview of Biomanufacturing Process Flow

II. Analysis of Key Equipment in the R&D and Design Phase of Biomanufacturing

III. Analysis of Key Equipment in the Large-Scale Production Phase of Biomanufacturing

IV. Analysis of Key Equipment in the Separation and Purification Stage of Biomanufacturing

V. Auxiliary Systems and Key Consumables for Biomanufacturing Production

VI. Pilot-Scale Platform for Biomanufacturing: An Industrial Accelerator Bridging the “Valley of Death”

Chapter 3: Assessment of the Localization Progress, Landscape, and Competitiveness of Key Equipment for Biomanufacturing

I. The Evolution of General Life Science Instruments and Equipment: From Complete Reliance on Imports to Sustained Breakthroughs

II. In-Depth Analysis of Key Equipment for Biomanufacturing by Category: Progress, Gaps, and “Hidden Champions”

Chapter 4: Innovation in Core Biomanufacturing Processes and Building Capabilities for High-End Product Manufacturing

I. Analysis of Innovations in Continuous Fermentation Processes

II. Utilization of Non-Traditional Substrates and Process Innovation in Synthetic Microbiomes

III. Analysis of Key Innovations in Biomanufacturing Separation and Purification Processes

IV. Analysis of Breakthroughs in High-End Products of China’s Biomanufacturing Industry

Chapter 5: Major Risks and Challenges in the Biomanufacturing Industry

I. Technology Translation Risks: The Difficulty of Bridging the Gap from “Scientific Feasibility” to “Engineering Success”

II. Biosafety and Regulatory Risks

III. Market and Commercialization Risks

IV. Raw Material Supply Chain Risks

V. Autonomy Challenges in Foundational “Root Technologies”

Collection of Outstanding Industry Cases

1. Kangnuo Biopharmaceutical Co., Ltd.

2. Anjiyi Industrial (Shanghai) Co., Ltd.

3. MicroStructure Factory

4. Bloomage Biotech

Copyright Page and Acknowledgments

Due to space constraints, this article cannot present all content in detail. For further information on related issues and detailed analysis, please download the full report.