Shifts in the Global Mass Spectrometry Imaging Market Landscape – Differentiated Strategies for Chinese Enterprises to Break Through

The global market for mass spectrometry imaging instruments has long been dominated by European and American companies. The three major players—Waters (DESI sources + Synapt series), Thermo Fisher (MALDI sources + Orbitrap series) and Bruker (MALDI sources + rapifleX series)—collectively account for over 70 per cent of the global market share. This landscape has remained largely unchanged over the past decade—but in the last two years, the entry of Chinese companies has been introducing new variables into the competitive landscape.

Unlike the previous approach of “domestic substitution = low-cost imitation”, this wave of domestic mass spectrometry imaging firms has chosen a differentiated technological path: rather than replicating the technical solutions of imported brands, they have introduced post-electron ionisation technology—which has not yet been adopted by imported products—at the critical stage of the ionisation source. By positioning “full polarity detection” and “modular compatibility” as their core selling points, they have identified gaps in the product portfolios of the imported giants.

The Technical Pathways and Limitations of Imported Brands

To understand the differentiation strategies of Chinese companies, one must first examine the technical pathways of imported brands and their inherent limitations.

The mass spectrometry imaging products of the three major players each have their own areas of focus. Waters’ DESI imaging is characterised by ambient-pressure ionisation and the absence of matrix spraying, making it suitable for the rapid imaging of lipids and small-molecule metabolites; however, due to the limitations of the DESI ionisation mechanism, its detection capability for non-polar molecules is weak, and its spatial resolution remains at the hundred-micrometre level. MALDI imaging from Thermo Fisher and Bruker offers the advantages of high spatial resolution (10–50 μm) and broad molecular coverage; however, it requires matrix spraying, involves complex sample preparation, and the crystal size of the matrix limits further improvements in resolution.

A common limitation shared by the ‘Big Three’ is that they all employ a single ionisation mode, with ionisation efficiency below one thousandth; over 99 per cent of molecular information is lost during the ionisation stage. This limitation is not a product defect specific to any single brand, but rather the technological ceiling of the entire mass spectrometry imaging industry—within the framework of traditional ionisation theory, improvements in ionisation efficiency have approached physical limits.

More crucially, the imaging ion sources of the three major players are all proprietary designs, compatible only with their own mass spectrometer platforms. Waters’ DESI source is installed only on Waters mass spectrometers, whilst Bruker’s MALDI source is installed only on Bruker mass spectrometers. Users cannot combine Thermo Fisher’s Orbitrap mass spectrometer with Waters’ DESI source. This ‘closed ecosystem’ strategy is commercially advantageous for locking in customers, but technically restricts users’ freedom of choice.

The differentiated technological approach of Chinese enterprises

The breakthrough strategy adopted by domestic enterprises such as New Source precisely targets the technical limitations and closed ecosystems of the imported giants.

The introduction of photoionisation technology. Xinceyuan’s MSI DPI electrospray/photochemical ionisation mass spectrometry imaging source connects a VUV photoionisation system in series after the DESI spray, performing “secondary ionisation” on neutral molecules that were not converted into ions during traditional DESI ionisation. The ionisation capability of VUV photoionisation is determined by the match between photon energy and molecular ionisation energy, and is independent of molecular polarity—this fundamentally eliminates the polarity bias inherent in DESI, giving non-polar molecules such as cholesterol and triglycerides the same detection opportunities as polar phospholipids.

The distinguishing feature of this technical approach lies in the fact that DESI imaging from imported brands can only visualise polar molecules (accounting for approximately 30–40 per cent of tissue molecules), whereas DESI/PI dual-mode imaging can visualise all polar molecules (with a coverage rate of over 80–90 per cent). In research into tumour lipid metabolism, the abnormal accumulation of non-polar lipids (cholesterol esters, triglycerides) is a key feature of metabolic reprogramming—a layer of information that is entirely overlooked by conventional DESI imaging.

The MSI LDPI laser/photochemical ionisation mass spectrometry imaging source applies the post-ionisation concept to the laser desorption mode. Transmission laser desorption (t-AP-LDI), combined with VUV photoionisation, enables molecular imaging at the single-cell scale with a spatial resolution of 2–3 μm, whilst compensating for the loss of sensitivity at high resolution through post-photoionisation. This level of resolution is among the world’s leading—the relevant findings from Pan Yang’s research group at the University of Science and Technology of China were featured on the cover of *Analytical Chemistry*, and academic peers have highly praised this technical approach.

Modular and compatible open ecosystem. Unlike the “closed ecosystems” of major international manufacturers, New Source’s imaging ion source employs a modular and compatible design, enabling installation on multiple mass spectrometers from the three leading brands: Agilent, AB SCIEX and Thermo. Users need not purchase new instruments; simply by installing the imaging source, they can upgrade their existing LC-MS or GC-MS systems to mass spectrometry imaging systems.

The commercial logic behind this strategy is the “activation of the existing market” – there are already hundreds of thousands of imported mass spectrometers in use globally, a significant number of which are eligible for imaging upgrades but have been unable to do so due to brand-specific restrictions. New Ceyuan’s open and compatible design provides a “workaround” for these existing instruments, allowing users to retain their existing investment in mass spectrometers whilst gaining mass spectrometry imaging capabilities simply by adding a domestically produced imaging source.

Market effects of differentiated competition

This differentiated technological approach is generating tangible market effects.

Endorsement from academic users. Early adopters of mass spectrometry imaging technology are primarily researchers at universities and research institutes, a group that is highly responsive to technological innovation. When post-photoionisation technology can provide information on non-polar molecules that cannot be obtained using traditional DESI/MALDI methods, and the relevant data is published in top-tier journals in the field, academic users have a strong incentive to try this new technology. New Source’s MSI DPI and MSI LDPI imaging sources have been installed and validated in laboratories at several universities, and the data produced has supported the publication of numerous research papers.

Reactivating users of existing equipment. Many research institutions already equipped with imported mass spectrometers are unable to procure standalone mass spectrometry imagers due to budgetary constraints; however, by retrofitting domestically produced imaging sources, they have gained imaging capabilities at a cost far lower than that of a complete system. This ‘retrofit upgrade’ model is particularly attractive to second- and third-tier universities and research institutions with limited budgets.

The response from imported brands. Faced with differentiated competition from post-photoionisation technology, imported brands have not remained idle. In recent years, Waters has also been exploring the possibility of combining DESI with photoionisation, though the progress of its product development has not yet been made public. This time lag represents a crucial window of opportunity for domestic enterprises—if they can establish sufficient market awareness and a user base before imported brands launch competing products, domestic imaging ion sources will be able to gain a firm foothold in the market.

Challenges for Chinese Enterprises

A differentiated technological approach is not without its challenges.

Insufficient market awareness. The brand recognition of domestic mass spectrometry imaging source manufacturers lags far behind that of the ‘Big Three’; in government procurement and tenders for large-scale scientific instruments, ‘brand preference’ remains a significant factor. Many procurers harbour doubts regarding the technical reliability of domestic products, necessitating a prolonged period of market education and the accumulation of positive user feedback.

After-sales service network. The use of mass spectrometry imaging instruments relies heavily on technical support, and imported brands have already established comprehensive after-sales service systems in China. The service network coverage of domestic enterprises is limited, and the speed of technical response to users in remote locations needs to be improved.

Reliance on the academic ecosystem. The promotion of mass spectrometry imaging technology cannot be separated from the support of methodological papers—users require existing methodological protocols in the literature to guide experimental design. Imported brands possess a vast body of methodological literature, whilst relevant literature on domestic imaging sources is still in its early stages of accumulation. New Ceyuan is accelerating the production of methodological literature by supporting research conducted by academic teams such as Pan Yang’s research group; however, it will take several years to establish a literature ecosystem comparable to that of imported brands.

Industry Outlook

The competitive landscape of the global mass spectrometry imaging market is evolving from a ‘monopoly of the Big Three’ towards a multipolar structure characterised by ‘the Big Three plus emerging Chinese players’. The differentiated breakthrough strategy adopted by Chinese enterprises—using technological innovation rather than low-cost imitation as a competitive lever—represents a new paradigm for the industrialisation of high-end scientific instruments in China.

The success of this paradigm hinges on whether technological differentiation can be translated into sustained product advantages, and whether domestic enterprises can narrow the gap with imported giants in terms of brand recognition, service networks and the academic ecosystem. If the post-photoionisation technology route proves capable of consistently generating data value that imported products cannot obtain, then Chinese mass spectrometry imaging enterprises will have the opportunity to secure a foothold in the global market—not through price wars, but through the originality of their technological approach.

In the next decade of the mass spectrometry imaging industry, the dimensions of competition will expand from “whose instruments are better” to “who can enable users to see more of the molecular world”.