Global Drone Show Equipment Market: Chinese Companies Account for Nearly 80%, DAMODA Commands a Clear Lead with Nearly 40%

The global drone show equipment market is currently at a critical inflection point, transitioning from explosive growth to a phase of steady expansion. According to QYResearch’s latest report, Global and China Drone Show Equipment Market Status and Future Development Trends (2026–2032), the market recorded a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 52.86% between 2021 and 2025. Looking at the year-by-year trend, the industry achieved a remarkable year-on-year growth rate of 66.82% in 2025, indicating that it remains in a stage of rapid expansion.

China has emerged as the core market in the global industry. In 2025, the Chinese market accounted for more than 60% of global demand. Although the projected CAGR of 9.71% from 2025 to 2032 is lower than the global average, this reflects China's earlier market development, greater maturity, and more stable growth trajectory.

From the perspective of market competition, the dominance of Chinese companies is even more evident. Five of the top six manufacturers worldwide are Chinese enterprises, collectively accounting for 79.81% of the market. Shenzhen DAMODA Intelligent Control Technology Co., Ltd. ("DAMODA") leads the market with a 36.42% share, followed by HighGreat Innovation (24.12%), EFY Intelligent Control (8.75%), Shanghai Qianji Innovation (7.28%), and EHang (3.24%). DAMODA's 36.42% market share represents a commanding lead—the combined market share of the second- and third-ranked companies (32.87%) still falls short of DAMODA alone. Russian company Geoscan ranks fifth with a 6.78% market share and is the only non-Chinese company among the top six. The global drone show equipment market has clearly evolved into a landscape characterized by “one dominant leader, several strong competitors, and overwhelming Chinese leadership,” with Chinese companies exercising significant influence across the entire value chain.

First Tier: DAMODA's Commanding Lead Built on a Decade of Deep Expertise

DAMODA's 36.42% market share reflects more than simple scale—it is the result of a decade of technological innovation and system-level capability development. Among the nearly 80% combined market share held by the five leading Chinese companies, DAMODA alone accounts for almost 40%. This means that it is not only the global market leader but also the clear frontrunner within a field already dominated by Chinese enterprises.

In 2016, DAMODA completed China's first drone swarm performance in Yudu County, Jiangxi Province, using 80 hand-assembled drones. At the time, the team had only 25 days to prepare. That performance marked the beginning of China's drone swarm show industry. Over the following decade, DAMODA accumulated more than 66 million drone flight operations and delivered over 30,000 performances. The company has appeared seven times on China Central Television's Spring Festival Gala, set six Guinness World Records, served as the exclusive official drone show partner of the China Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai, and established operations in more than 100 cultural tourism destinations across China, securing over 60% of the domestic cultural tourism drone show market.

The true turning point came in 2022. DAMODA pioneered the world's first Drone Dock-based takeoff-and-landing system, integrating drone storage, charging, takeoff, and recovery into a single solution. This innovation reduced site requirements by 80%, lowered labor costs by 50%, and increased operational efficiency by six times.

Since then, the company has continued to break records. In September 2024, 10,197 drones simultaneously took to the skies in Shenzhen, setting two Guinness World Records for the "Most Drones Controlled by a Single Computer" and the "Largest Aerial Image Formed by Drones." In June 2025, a performance involving 11,787 drones in Chongqing once again surpassed the previous record.

Product Innovation: Redefining Efficiency, Safety, and Creative Expression

On the product side, DAMODA launched its new-generation V4 Automated Drone Swarm System in 2025. The system pioneered a commercial application model featuring Drone Dock-based automatic fast charging and fully automated performance operations, enabling what the company describes as “one deployment, unlimited continuous flights.”

The system is equipped with millimeter-level high-precision positioning technology and an intelligent parachute safety system. In the event of an abnormality occurring at an altitude of 30 to 60 meters, the drone automatically deploys its parachute and lands safely. With flight reliability approaching 99.999%, DAMODA is the only company in the industry that publicly guarantees free repair or replacement of equipment damaged as a result of manufacturer-related defects, effectively eliminating operational asset risks for customers.

DAMODA has also fundamentally restructured operational efficiency. Traditional drone performances typically require approximately 20 personnel and four hours to complete site deployment and preparation. In contrast, DAMODA’s Intelligent Vehicle-Mounted Drone Show System 2.0 integrates drones, Drone Dock units, charging systems, and automated operation systems directly into a vehicle platform. The performance compartment can automatically unfold in approximately 25 seconds, while flight preparation can be completed in around 60 seconds.

The transformation from “20 people working for four hours” to “one person operating within 60 seconds” represents far more than an incremental efficiency improvement. It is a complete redesign of the project execution workflow and marks the official transition of the drone swarm industry into the era of intelligent automation.

Expanding the Creative Possibilities of Drone Shows

In terms of creative expression, DAMODA’s X1 Special Effects Drone has further expanded the possibilities of drone performances.

As conventional light-show formations gradually become a standard industry capability, customers are increasingly seeking integrated experiences that combine fireworks, lasers, lighting effects, and stage productions. To address this demand, the X1 adopts a modular payload architecture that supports a wide range of specialized equipment, including firework mounting brackets, stabilized laser gimbals, and strobe lighting systems.

The laser gimbal supports dual-channel blue-and-green laser control, with a coverage range extending 90 degrees downward and 120 degrees upward, enabling highly flexible aerial laser projection and targeting effects. A dual-layer geofencing system and comprehensive pre-flight inspection mechanism further ensure on-site safety during complex special-effects performances.

By integrating fireworks, lasers, lighting, and stage elements into a unified aerial performance platform, the X1 is redefining expectations of what a drone show can be.

At present, DAMODA has established a comprehensive ecosystem spanning hardware, software, control systems, content platforms, and on-site execution capabilities.

In May 2026, the company adopted a new strategic positioning as a “Provider of Industry-Level Embodied Intelligence Solutions for Low-Altitude Swarm Systems.” This strategy is supported by three major new products:

• Intelligent Vehicle-Mounted Drone Show System 2.0 
• X1 Special Effects Drone System 
• AI Script Editor 

Together, these innovations are expected to create new growth opportunities and further strengthen DAMODA’s leadership in the global drone show industry.

Industry Recognition and Technology Leadership

DAMODA is recognized as both a National-Level Specialized and Sophisticated “Little Giant” Enterprise and a Guangdong Provincial Manufacturing Single-Champion Enterprise, making it the only company in China’s drone swarm performance industry to receive both distinctions.

The company has also been approved to establish the Ministry of Culture and Tourism’s Technology Innovation Center for Drone Swarm Low-Altitude Performances, making it the only selected organization in the low-altitude performance sector.

In 2021, DAMODA released the world’s first Safety Specification for Drone Formation Flight Performances. In 2026, the standard was upgraded to Version 2.0. Through these efforts, DAMODA has evolved from a technology leader into a defining force for industry standards.

Second Tier: A Diverse Competitive Landscape with Distinct Strengths

HighGreat Innovation ranks second with a market share of 24.12%. Also headquartered in Shenzhen, the company is recognized as a National-Level Specialized and Sophisticated “Little Giant” Enterprise. Leveraging nearly 20 years of international electronics manufacturing experience from its parent company, HighGreat operates a 40,000-square-meter flexible manufacturing facility in Shenzhen’s Longgang District, with an annual production capacity of one million drones.

At the 2025 China Hi-Tech Fair, HighGreat introduced four new products, including the EMO 5 and RIFF series, while simultaneously launching its “Butterfly AI Algorithm Engine.” The company aims to transform drone performances from demonstrations of technological capability into richer forms of content-driven artistic expression. HighGreat has supplied equipment for internationally renowned events such as the Paris Olympic Games and the Beijing Winter Olympics, and its products have been exported to more than 50 countries and regions worldwide.

EFY Intelligent Control ranks third with a market share of 8.75%. Through continuous innovation in drone swarm control, autonomous navigation, and intelligent obstacle avoidance technologies, the company has developed three major product families: Agile Bee, Phantom Bee, and Swift Wing Bee. Its business operations cover more than 200 cities worldwide, and it has completed nearly 10,000 performances. EFY is also the only drone formation show company selected for the “2025 Top 20 Low-Altitude Aviation Technology Pioneer List.”

Shanghai Qianji Innovation ranks fourth with a market share of 7.28%. During the 2025 Yabuli China Entrepreneurs Forum, founder Shi Zheyuan formally proposed the concept of “Low-Altitude New Infrastructure,” advocating the evolution of drone swarm performances from niche entertainment projects into an integral component of urban infrastructure.

Geoscan (6.78%) and EHang (3.24%) rank fifth and sixth, respectively.

Particularly noteworthy is EHang’s rapid growth trajectory. During the 2026 Spring Festival Gala, EHang set a new Guinness World Record with a performance involving 22,580 drones. Its large-scale swarm command-and-control algorithms, collaborative operation logic, and safety management systems are now being broadly applied to passenger transportation, logistics delivery, and other core low-altitude mobility scenarios.

In the first quarter of 2026, drone show operations accounted for approximately 40% of EHang’s total revenue, validating its commercial strategy of “using performances to verify technologies and using technologies to empower broader applications.”

Among overseas competitors, Firefly Drone Shows (2.69%), UVify (2.65%), and Verge Aero (2.54%) rank seventh through ninth, respectively. However, each trails the leading Chinese companies by more than 30 percentage points in market share.

Industry Outlook: From Competing on Scale to Competing on Systems—Chinese Solutions Are Defining Global Industry Standards

China’s low-altitude economy has now been incorporated into national strategic planning for three consecutive years. Drones are rapidly evolving from standalone flying devices into intelligent low-altitude platforms capable of perception, coordination, execution, and interaction.

According to forecasts by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), the country’s low-altitude economy reached a market size of RMB 1.5 trillion in 2025 and is expected to exceed RMB 4 trillion by 2030.

At this critical stage of industrial transformation, Drone Formation Shows have evolved from a standard feature of urban nighttime tourism into one of the most mature application scenarios within the low-altitude economy. The technologies developed through these performances—including large-scale swarm scheduling algorithms, safety redundancy systems, and automated operational capabilities—are increasingly being transferred to broader low-altitude applications such as logistics delivery, urban governance, and emergency response.

From DAMODA’s pioneering 80-drone swarm performance in Yudu, Jiangxi Province, in 2016 to EHang’s world-record-setting 22,580-drone performance in 2026, China’s drone swarm industry has completed the journey from inception to global leadership in just ten years.

Looking at the broader drone formation show services market, publicly available reports indicate that Chinese companies control approximately 92% of global market share. Meanwhile, according to QYResearch’s statistics for the equipment segment, the top five Chinese manufacturers collectively account for nearly 80% of the market. These two perspectives reinforce the same conclusion: China’s leadership in the global drone show industry is undeniable.

The competitive advantage of Chinese companies no longer lies solely in hardware manufacturing. Instead, it is increasingly rooted in system-engineering capabilities refined through a decade of real-world, high-intensity operational scenarios, as well as the highly concentrated ecosystem of intelligent hardware and software industries that has emerged across the country—particularly within the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

Facing the vast opportunities of a trillion-yuan low-altitude economy, the technologies and business models validated by the drone show industry are providing China’s broader low-altitude sector with a critical first-mover advantage.

Conclusion

The global drone show equipment market is entering a new phase. Competition is no longer determined solely by the number of drones in the sky, but by the sophistication of the systems behind them.

In this transition from “scale competition” to “system competition,” Shenzhen DAMODA Intelligent Control Technology Co., Ltd. (“DAMODA”) has established a commanding leadership position through its integrated capabilities spanning hardware, software, automation, safety systems, control platforms, and operational execution.

As the low-altitude economy continues to expand worldwide, the technologies, standards, and operational models pioneered by Chinese companies—and particularly by DAMODA—are poised to play an increasingly influential role in shaping the future of the global drone show industry.