The glass microsphere industry has a promising development prospect.

Hollow glass microspheres, as a type of glass microsphere, are hailed as "space age materials". The upstream of its industrial chain is mainly the supply of raw materials, including various inorganic minerals such as quartz sand, limestone, feldspar, and soda ash. The midstream is the production layer, and the current preparation methods mainly include vapor phase method, sol-gel method, and aerogel method. The downstream has a wide range of application fields and is of significant use in industries such as building materials, plastics, rubber, coatings, petrochemicals, metallurgy, deep sea, aerospace, etc., with a large market demand.

From the perspective of the industry status quo, the output and demand of hollow glass microspheres in China have generally shown an upward trend. According to statistics, as of 2022, the output of hollow glass microspheres in China was approximately 47,400 tons, and the demand was approximately 54,500 tons. Although there are a large number of domestic hollow glass microsphere production enterprises, there are relatively few large-scale and systematic brands. Some high-end products still need to be imported from abroad. However, in recent years, some scientific research institutes in China have gradually developed a variety of preparation technologies for high-performance hollow glass microspheres. Domestic enterprises, through technology introduction and re-development, are also gradually forming large-scale production capabilities.

In terms of policies, hollow glass microspheres belong to the field of new chemical materials, and the development of this industry has received strong support from national policies. For example, the "Outline for Building a Quality Power" released by the State Council in February 2023 emphasized promoting technological development in the field of new materials, strengthening the application of new materials, and expanding their application fields. The country has also established application insurance for the new material industry and provided special funds for "Made in China 2025", providing support in terms of funds.

In the future, with the advancement of product processes and industrial application technologies, the application fields of high-performance hollow glass microspheres are expected to further increase. However, currently, there is still a certain gap between China and foreign countries in the field of preparing high-performance hollow glass microspheres, such as in aspects like the compressive strength of microspheres, particle size, chemical stability, degree of fine control, and application technologies. Therefore, domestic enterprises need to increase their efforts in technological research and development or introduce advanced technologies from abroad to improve product quality and production efficiency, enter the medium and high-end markets, and build domestic hollow glass microsphere brands to accelerate the process of market localization.

Overall, the glass microsphere industry, especially hollow glass microspheres, is a sunrise industry with a wide range of application fields and good market prospects. But at the same time, it also faces challenges such as technological improvement and market competition, requiring enterprises to continuously innovate and progress to adapt to the development needs of the industry.