Satellite navigation, as the cornerstone of the development of the digital economy, is an essential manifestation of the technological strength of various countries. With the establishment of China’s Beidou system, the satellite navigation and location service industry based on the Beidou system has gradually become one of the few high-tech industries in China that have successfully caught up with the United States and other pioneering countries. Although the development process of China’s Beidou system and satellite navigation and location service industry highly coincides at time nodes, it cannot be inferred from both theory and the development practices of various countries that there is an inevitable causal relationship between them. By combing the development process of China’s satellite navigation and location service industry, and combining the relevant theories of the window of opportunity, this paper finds that GNSS is the window of opportunity for China’s satellite navigation and location service industry to successfully catch up. Compared to a single system, GNSS can significantly improve performance without increasing costs, providing a technological window for catching up. The Chinese government actively promotes the construction of GNSS, providing a policy window for industrial development, and the industry’s rapidly growing demand provides a demand window. The three types of windows have successfully reduced the latecomer entry cost of China’s satellite navigation and location service industry, and assisted by the successful response of a large influx of enterprises to the window of opportunity, making China’s satellite navigation and location service industry successfully catch up.