United Imaging targets the "King of Ultrasound" with a hidden agenda

United Imaging Healthcare is entering the territory of Mindray.

On November 12, United Imaging Healthcare announced that three color Doppler ultrasound diagnostic systems (ultrasound) have been approved for market launch by the National Medical Products Administration, namely uSONIQUE Pulse, uSONIQUE Genesis, and uSONIQUE Venus, which can fully support usage in various departments and application scenarios including general, cardiac, cardiology, and obstetrics.

With the approval of the uSONIQUE series ultrasound products, United Imaging Healthcare has officially built a complete chain of medical imaging diagnostic product matrix covering CT, MR, X-ray, MI, and ultrasound.

After completing the last piece of the puzzle in the medical imaging sector, United Imaging Healthcare and Mindray will engage in fierce competition in the same ultrasound market.

In 2023, Mindray ranked first in domestic ultrasound equipment, maintaining its advantageous position to date.

As a latecomer, United Imaging Healthcare's core advantage in ultrasound products lies in intelligence, including automated workflows that guide operators through standard steps for examinations, intelligent image optimization that accurately identifies tissues, automatic labeling, and intelligent diagnosis.

With the launch of multiple ultrasound products, United Imaging Healthcare is expected to challenge Mindray's top position.

Selling "Intelligence"

To promote the development of its ultrasound product line, United Imaging Healthcare has been preparing for many years.

Xue Min, Chairman of United Imaging Group, revealed that more than a decade ago, they planned to develop ultrasound products, but due to the inability to find a suitable team, they delayed the start until 2019 when they finally began investing in research and development.

"We wanted to do ultrasound over a decade ago when we just started. In fact, I found a team in Silicon Valley and other places, but due to unforeseen circumstances, that team did not materialize, so our ultrasound products did not start until 2019 when we finally found this team," Xue Min stated. "Since 2019, we have formed a team to develop ultrasound products."

The core selling point of United Imaging Healthcare's ultrasound products is "intelligence."

For example, all of United Imaging Healthcare's ultrasound products will be equipped with AI large models and datasets of hundreds of millions.

According to Lin Feng, President of the Ultrasound Division at United Imaging Healthcare, the Solo LM ultrasound multimodal large model consists of language models, visual models, and voice models.

"In order to facilitate flexible deployment, we chose a medium model with 7 billion tokens. After targeted training on ultrasound knowledge, its ultrasound performance has reached or even exceeded that of large general models," Lin Feng stated.

On-site observations revealed that operators can interact with the built-in model of the ultrasound device through voice while examining patients, automatically generating examination results, which are then confirmed by the operators, potentially further enhancing the examination efficiency of ultrasound doctors.

AI-optimized workflows do address some of the pain points for doctors. Industry insiders have revealed that some hospitals' ultrasound doctors once handled over a hundred patients in a single day, leading to heavy workloads. With the help of AI, ultrasound doctors are expected to be liberated from strenuous physical labor.

However, many ultrasound products on the market today are equipped with AI features. For instance, Mindray's ultrasound product Resona A20 offers AI tools for intelligent breast, intelligent thyroid, and automatic liver STE to simplify daily workflows and enhance doctors' work efficiency Regarding the unique advantages of AI functions in ultrasound technology at United Imaging Healthcare, the board secretary Cai Tao believes that integrating AI technology from the beginning of research and development can further enhance processing speed and accuracy.

"The concept of external AI differs from our R&D philosophy, which has AI genes built in from the start. Built-in AI can significantly improve the product's processing speed and accuracy. Therefore, our product features and pricing are more likely to be accepted by doctors and hospitals," Cai Tao pointed out.

In terms of core components, this ultrasound product continues United Imaging Healthcare's consistent R&D approach: a high localization rate.

"Currently, the localization rate of components in ultrasound products has reached a relatively high level. Although it has not yet reached 100%, we are working towards that direction, and core components have achieved 100% independent R&D," Lin Feng told Xin Feng.

Currently, United Imaging Healthcare's ultrasound products are advancing CE and FDA market licenses in Europe and the United States, with the fastest approval expected next year.

"We deployed a research and development team in the United States a long time ago. The U.S. is the largest market for ultrasound, and we are determined to make efforts to enter this market," Lin Feng stated.

Red Ocean Strategy

Ultrasound has a wide range of applications in various hospitals due to its high cost-effectiveness, ease of operation, and lack of radiation.

There is indeed a vast market space.

According to Bai Jian Strategy Research, the global ultrasound diagnostic equipment market is expected to reach USD 13.911 billion by 2025 and USD 23.795 billion by 2032, with an average annual compound growth rate of 7.97% from 2025 to 2032.

However, as ultrasound equipment has entered a mature development phase, overall competition is fierce, and price wars are frequent. In March of this year, Hebei Province centralized procurement of 79 sets of ultrasound equipment, with a total bid amount of 30.99 million, nearly 70% less than the budgeted price.

United Imaging Healthcare holds an optimistic view on this.

According to Cai Tao's observation, the currently centralized procurement of ultrasound equipment is focused on the mid-to-low-end segment, while high-end equipment has basically not been affected.

"In fact, high-end equipment is quite rare in centralized procurement, which is still mainly focused on economical models," Cai Tao pointed out. "Therefore, everyone sees that the products we have obtained certification for are concentrated in the high-end segment, and these products are less affected by the current centralized procurement. Of course, our highly competitive economical products will also be timely introduced to the market."

Cai Tao believes that United Imaging Healthcare possesses a dual advantage of high-end innovative products driving gross margin improvement and large-scale production for cost reduction.

On one hand, United Imaging Healthcare plans to continue its previous strategy of 'high-profile and high-impact' by improving gross margins through innovation and high-end ultrasound products; on the other hand, in addition to factories in Wuhan, Changzhou, and Houston, USA, the construction of United Imaging Healthcare's second-phase factory in Shanghai is expected to be completed next year, which is anticipated to further control costs through large-scale production.

"There is a trend in the market now, which is that we see more and more high-end CT and MR products, and I believe ultrasound will follow this trend in the future," Cai Tao pointed out. "Therefore, in terms of high-end products, we still have strong competitiveness, which can offset the gross margin erosion caused by future mid-to-low-end products." Previously, the price war for CT and MR equipment did not affect United Imaging Healthcare, which focuses on the high-end market, with a gross margin of 47.02% in the first three quarters of 2025.

Although United Imaging Healthcare has not explicitly set a market share target, the pace of launching multiple ultrasound products at once clearly indicates that it is aiming for the top position.

In this competition, United Imaging Healthcare faces not only strong foreign competitors like GE Healthcare but also domestic rival Mindray.

Starting in 2023, Mindray's ultrasound products surpassed foreign companies for the first time in domestic market share, rising to first place. In the following year, its market share exceeded 30% for the first time, further solidifying its leading position in the industry.

In the first half of 2025, Mindray's ultra-high-end ultrasound series achieved nearly 400 million yuan in sales, approaching last year's total.

Whether United Imaging Healthcare can claim the title of "King of Ultrasound" remains to be seen by the market