SANDT secures over ￥500M in strategic funding to bolster leadership in China's X-ray core component ecosystem

Shanghai Advanced NDT Equipment Co., Ltd. ("SANDT") recently completed a strategic financing round exceeding 500 million yuan. This round was led by China Life Private Equity Investment, with joint investments from Beijing Advanced Manufacturing Fund (北京先进制造基金), Shenzhen Capital Group, Jingxi Ruiling Equity Investment Fund (京西瑞瓴股权投资基金), DHLT Investment, IN Capital, Tsing-Yuan Capital, Tianxing Capital, and others. The funds will be primarily used for R&D in high-end X-ray tube source technology, production capacity expansion, and industrial chain supporting construction, further consolidating SANDT's leading position in the field of domestic X-ray core components.

As one of China's earliest enterprises dedicated to the R&D and manufacturing of X-ray core components, SANDT has been deeply engaged in X-ray imaging technology for 24 years since its establishment in 2001. Its business spans multiple fields including security inspection, industrial applications, and medical devices. The company traces its origins to China's first industrial X-ray flaw detector manufacturer—the original Shanghai Flaw Detector Factory—and the nation's first enterprise to produce medical X-ray tubes—the original Shanghai No. 9 Medical Equipment Factory, inheriting the earliest technological lineage and engineering systems of China's X-ray industry.

In its early years, SANDT broke through in the security inspection sector. Leveraging rapid response capabilities and manufacturing strength, it quickly became a major global supplier of X-ray core components for security inspection, with its products widely adopted by international security equipment manufacturers. The expertise gained during this phase endowed the company with profound advantages in key processes such as vacuum manufacturing, thermal design, and high-voltage insulation, laying a solid foundation for its entry into the more advanced field of medical imaging.

In 2018, SANDT completed the comprehensive acquisition of the former DUNLEE facility in Aurora, Illinois, USA, establishing Chronos Imaging. Building upon its core assets, equipment, and technological systems, SANDT fully achieved localized reconstruction and independent upgrades. DUNLEE, a globally renowned brand for medical CT tubes, brought nearly eight decades of manufacturing experience and quality systems. Through technological absorption and system reconstruction, SANDT rapidly completed a full-chain transformation—from technology introduction to localized production, and ultimately to independent innovation.

In 2019, the company established the Chronos Imaging Shanghai base in Songjiang, Shanghai, achieving comprehensive localization of key processes, material systems, and production equipment for CT tubes in China. Among these, core technologies such as liquid metal bearings have attained independent R&D and industrial implementation within China, signifying that Chinese enterprises have genuinely mastered the independent design and manufacturing capabilities for high-end CT tube core components. SANDT's strategic integration in the CT tube sector has not only preserved internationally advanced process expertise but has also established a China-centric R&D and manufacturing system. This has effectively rooted the key technologies and industrial capabilities for high-end CT tubes within China, driving substantive achievement of self-sufficiency and controllability in the field of high-end X-ray core components.

The CT tube serves as the core component of CT equipment, characterized by high technical requirements and a complex industrial chain. Leveraging its years of accumulated expertise in X-ray core components, SANDT has systematically overcome key technologies in materials, structure, vacuum, and thermal management, progressively achieving autonomous control from R&D to mass production. The company's products now cover CT systems ranging from 16-slice to 64-slice, with models such as the AU240 and AU200 C40L demonstrating stable performance that effectively reduces hospital maintenance costs and promotes the domestic adoption of high-end consumables.

Beyond CT tubes, SANDT is concurrently advancing the localized development of digital subtraction angiography (DSA) tubes and critical components, while continuously driving the expansion of X-ray technology into broader industrial and scientific research fields. The company has already initiated the development of a new generation of high-resolution imaging technologies in the micro-focus X-ray direction. These technologies are applicable to the precision inspection of integrated circuits, semiconductor packaging, lithium batteries, and new energy materials, providing high-precision non-destructive testing solutions for advanced manufacturing.

This financing round reflects the capital market's high recognition of SANDT's technological barriers and industrial value. The company will further accelerate technological breakthroughs in key components such as high-end X-ray tubes and radiation sources, while deepening the construction of its intelligent manufacturing system to achieve comprehensive automation, standardization, and high reliability in production.

Looking ahead, SANDT will continue to focus on X-ray products for medical, industrial, and special application fields. It will persistently drive technological advancement and industrial upgrading, striving to become a central force in overcoming core X-ray technology challenges and strengthening the foundation of China's independent capabilities.