Boomtime at Bohai: China ramps up submarine production
China has rapidly expanded its nuclear-powered-submarine production, surpassing US launch numbers and tonnage in the period 2021–25. Although qualitative differences compared with US and European designs persist, the increasing number of Chinese submarines presents a growing challenge for Western countries struggling to expand their own production.
This blog post was first published on Military Balance+ on 13 February 2026
China has significantly increased its nuclear-powered-submarine production rate over the last five years (2021–25) while at the same time expanding its shipbuilding facilities. This output is greater than during the prior decade (2011–20), in which seven boats were launched. During the recent period, China, for the first time, launched more boats than the United States, with a greater combined tonnage (see Figure 1). Most significantly, this includes the seventh and eighth Type-094 (Jin) nuclear-armed ballistic-missile submarines (SSBNs), which come as part of the emergence of Beijing’s nuclear triad. While Chinese designs almost certainly lag behind US and European boats in terms of quality, the greater numbers in the water present a growing challenge to those countries as they struggle to increase their own output.