The R&D and manufacturing of large aircraft is an industry with a high value chain. The C919 alone has driven the development of 5 major categories, 20 majors, and more than 6,000 civil aircraft technologies in my country. For example, an unremarkable aircraft landing gear is special steel with an annual output value of over 100 million yuan. The C919 aircraft uses three main new materials: carbon fiber composites, third-generation aluminum alloys, and titanium alloys. The market potential of these new materials is more than 100 billion yuan.

The value distribution of large aircraft conforms to the “smile curve”. Split according to the value of the large aircraft itself, airframe manufacturing, engines, and airborne equipment account for 30%-35%, 20%-25%, and 25%-30% respectively, and other systems such as interior decoration account for 10%-15% . Therefore, in general, the highest value chain is the front-end research and development design, engine manufacturing, key parts manufacturing and other fields, as well as the management and information-intensive industries such as marketing and after-sales service at the back end. The technical barriers in the assembly link are small, and the value chain is low-end.

At present, there are 239 suppliers of C919, including 104 foreign suppliers, and 51 suppliers from the United States; 122 domestic suppliers, including 67 state-owned enterprises. In addition, there are 13 Sino-foreign joint ventures. With the acceleration of localization, it is expected that the number of domestic suppliers will continue to increase.
Aluminum alloy accounts for 65% of the total net mass of C919 aircraft: aluminum alloy has the characteristics of low density, good mechanical properties, good processing performance, non-toxic, easy to recycle, excellent electrical conductivity, heat transfer and corrosion resistance, etc. main material. Replacing aluminum alloy with aluminum-lithium alloy can further reduce the weight of aircraft components: aluminum alloy is an alloy metal made by filling lithium as an alloying element, which has the characteristics of low density, high strength and excellent damage tolerance. It can be used to replace conventional aluminum Alloy materials can further reduce the material density and reduce the weight of the airframe, so it is considered to be an ideal structural material for the new generation of aircraft.