China-Malaysia Deepen Civil Aviation Cooperation, Bringing New Opportunities for China’s eVTOL Global Expansion

Recently, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) and the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM) signed the Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in Civil Aviation Safety between the Civil Aviation Administration of China and the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia. Prior to the signing, the two sides exchanged views on strengthening air transport links, deepening bilateral cooperation and promoting low-altitude economy development.

For China’s eVTOL industry, the significance of this event goes far beyond regulatory cooperation itself. As China’s eVTOL sector gradually enters the critical stage of type certification and commercialization, the industry focus is shifting: an enterprise’s ability to truly penetrate overseas markets, build local partnerships and drive commercial rollout is becoming a key watershed of competition in the next phase.

Over the past few years, Chinese eVTOL companies have made frequent appearances at overseas exhibitions, cooperation signings and market exchanges. But the true globalization of the aviation industry does not mean “products showing up overseas”; it depends on the ability to build long-term connections among customers, governments, regulators, industry partners and local business systems.

From this perspective, China’s eVTOL global expansion is evolving from early market testing to a more systematic phase of global commercialization. Shide Technology stands out as a representative enterprise in this trend. Rather than focusing on a single country, it entered key markets such as the Middle East and Southeast Asia at an early stage, and has continued to advance commercial cooperation, regulatory exchanges and local business development. The Middle East market has already delivered scaled commercial results first. The General Civil Aviation Authority of the UAE has also visited Shide Technology to review the R&D, type certification and industrialization progress of its E20 eVTOL. As a result, Shide Technology has built not just an “order advantage” in the Middle East, but a first-mover foundation with simultaneous connections between commercial customers and regulators.

For aviation products, commercial orders address market demand, while regulatory communication determines whether the product can actually enter service in the future. Advancing both in parallel means an enterprise’s overseas layout has moved beyond pure sales to a deeper stage of commercial preparation.

Shide Technology also established an early presence in Southeast Asia. Over the past years, Malaysian government officials including the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, and Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture have visited Shide Technology successively to learn about the E20 eVTOL’s technology, certification progress, application scenarios and commercialization plans. During the China International Import Expo in 2024, Huang Yongwei, founder and CEO of Shide Technology, also introduced the E20 eVTOL and its deployment plans in the Malaysian and Southeast Asian markets to Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.

Currently, Shide Technology has set up a business center in Malaysia, continuously advancing cooperation with local governments, industries and markets.

The further deepening of China-Malaysia civil aviation safety cooperation has also created a more favorable external environment for the government, industry and local business foundations Shide Technology has already built in Malaysia.

From the UAE to Malaysia, a clear feature of Shide Technology’s internationalization strategy is visible: instead of waiting for domestic certification to be completed before seeking overseas opportunities, the company enters key regions ahead of time to lay long-term groundwork while certification, market expansion, regulatory alignment and commercial cooperation are still advancing simultaneously. This “front-loaded layout” is becoming a key source of its overseas competitiveness.

On one hand, large overseas orders have validated the international market appeal of the E20 eVTOL; on the other, continuous engagement with overseas governments, regulators and industry partners has built a cooperation network in advance for subsequent commercial rollout. Compared with measuring international progress solely by order volume, this capability is far more critical for aviation enterprises.

The overseas commercialization cycle of the aviation industry is long and entry barriers are high. Full product deployment requires the joint maturity of regulatory approval, operation systems, infrastructure, industry partners and local markets. Therefore, the earlier an enterprise enters a target market and builds multi-level cooperative relationships, the easier it is to gain a first-mover commercial advantage once the product matures.

Shide Technology’s current strength lies in integrating overseas orders, government exchanges, regulatory communication and local business layout into a cohesive strategy, rather than treating them as isolated market moves. This also reflects the shifting logic of China’s eVTOL global expansion.

In the early stage, China’s eVTOL gained overseas attention mainly through technological innovation and product performance. After entering the industrialization phase, what will truly define an enterprise’s global competitiveness is the ability to build a sustainable overseas business system.

In other words, competition in the next phase will not only focus on who secures more orders, but on who can turn orders into regulatory progress, operational readiness and long-term market foundations.

This is also the pivotal shift for China’s eVTOL as it moves from “product going global” to “business system going global”.

From an industry-wide perspective, China has developed a complete eVTOL industrial chain covering airframe R&D, electric propulsion, avionics and flight control, power batteries, composite materials, intelligent manufacturing and airworthiness verification. As enterprises expand overseas, these capabilities are forming deeper links with local markets, regulatory and industrial systems.

As a result, eVTOL exports deliver not just aircraft themselves, but R&D, manufacturing, airworthiness, operation and industrial synergy capabilities. This is the most noteworthy aspect of the globalization of China’s high-end aviation manufacturing.

Over the past few years, China’s new energy vehicle industry has completed the transition from product export to deepening overseas production, supply chains and localized operations. Although eVTOL is at an earlier development stage, its higher aviation safety and regulatory thresholds mean that once it achieves full commercial operation overseas, it will lift the globalization of China’s high-end manufacturing to a new level. eVTOL is poised to become another signature sector for China’s high-end manufacturing on the global stage.

Viewed in this light, the deepened civil aviation cooperation between China and Malaysia not only adds new cooperation foundations for China’s eVTOL to enter the Malaysian market, but also confirms a broader trend: as China’s eVTOL matures, overseas markets are shifting from “focusing on Chinese products” to jointly building commercial conditions with Chinese enterprises.

For Shide Technology, which has already established orders, government partnerships, regulatory ties and local business foundations in key markets such as the UAE and Malaysia, this shift further amplifies the first-mover advantage of its global layout.

As China’s eVTOL global expansion moves from order-winning to full commercial deployment, enterprises that build a complete overseas cooperation network ahead of time will be better positioned to turn technological strengths into global commercial capabilities first.