State Grid's meter market valued at $7.7b

BEIJING - China will become the world's biggest market for smart meters in four years because of its rapid development of the smart-grid industry and huge population, industry insiders said.

State Grid Corp has 300 million potential smart-meter users, worth 50 billion yuan ($7.7 billion) in business value for the meters alone, said Fei Yuhang, a member of the National Standardization Committee for Electrical Meters.

Fei, who also works as an engineer at Shanghai Belling Co, which holds more than a domestic market share of 30 percent in silicon chips for meters, said that in addition to smart meters, the market value for related equipment and software products will reach 70 billion yuan, presenting huge business opportunities to manufacturers of meters, silicon chips, batteries, LCD panels and other components.