Overseas preparations for mass production are underway. How far has the progress of brain-computer interfaces come in China?

Overseas preparations for mass production are underway. How far has the progress of brain-computer interfaces come in China?

Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) are at a key turning point, transitioning from “scientific research” to “commercial implementation.” Neuralink, owned by Elon Musk, has announced it will begin mass production in 2026, and this clear timeline has sparked significant market expectations. Meanwhile, China is accelerating its catch-up both in policy (15th Five-Year Plan, medical insurance coding) and technology (clinical trial breakthroughs).

According to a Tuesday report by The Paper, BCI “unicorn” BrainCo has recently completed a funding round of about 2 billion yuan, making it the world’s second largest BCI sector fundraising event after Neuralink. Investors include top institutions such as IDG and Walden International, showing strong capital deployment in the primary market.

Guosen Securities’ viewpoint is that this is an incremental market moving from 0 to 1. In the short term, market sentiment is driven by Neuralink’s mass production expectations and favorable domestic policies, offering high explosiveness; in the mid-to-long term, competition will differentiate—invasive BCIs depend on technological barriers (electrodes, chips), while non-invasive ones depend on commercialization (channels, algorithms). Investors should focus on leading enterprises with core technology moats (such as self-developed chips, flexible electrodes) and those able to achieve commercial closed loops first (such as in rehabilitation medicine, consumer electronics).

Technology Routes Comparison: Invasive VS Non-Invasive

The team led by Chen Xibing of Guosen Securities points out that the core of BCIs lies in the communication link between brain electrical activity and external devices. According to the method of implantation, the technology currently falls mainly into three routes: invasive, semi-invasive, and non-invasive. Each route varies significantly in signal quality, safety, and commercialization cycle.

Invasive (Neuralink route): Electrodes penetrate brain tissue via surgery to obtain the highest spatiotemporal resolution and bandwidth, suitable for complex scenarios such as brain-controlled prosthetics and vision restoration.

  • Cost: Requires craniotomy; R&D cycles last 5-8 years; clinical cost per case can reach hundreds of thousands of yuan.
  • Technical barriers: Extremely high. The core lies in the long-term stability and biocompatibility of flexible electrodes, as well as high-throughput chips.
  • Current status: The US leads by 2-5 years. Chinese companies such as Jieti Medical and Brain Tiger Technology are catching up and have completed the first clinical trials.

Non-invasive (consumer-grade route): Signals are collected via scalp or surface sensors.

  • Features: No surgery required, safe and low-cost, but signals are greatly attenuated.
  • Technical barriers: Algorithms and data. Massive datasets are needed to train algorithms to solve signal noise problems.
  • Current status: China and the US are basically neck and neck. Domestic companies such as BrainCo and Brikang have already launched products in rehabilitation and sleep monitoring.

Semi-invasive/interventional: Electrodes are placed inside the skull but do not penetrate brain tissue.

  • Features: Signal quality is better than non-invasive, and trauma is less than invasive, but these are still class III medical devices and require craniotomy. Xinwei Medical’s interventional approach uses vascular implants, thus no craniotomy is needed.

China-US Progress Comparison

Globally, there are clear structural differences between China and the US in the BCI sector: for invasive products, the US still leads by 2-5 years, while in non-invasive products, China and the US are largely on par.

According to Guosen Securities’ analysis, the US holds an absolute lead in the invasive BCI field, being about 2 to 5 years ahead of China. US companies such as Neuralink have pioneered flexible electrode technology and possess complete domestic supply chains for chips, electrodes, and batteries. Neuralink has completed 12 invasive clinical cases and plans to launch the Blindsight project for the blind in 2026.

In comparison, China still partially relies on imports for key components (like chips and sensors) in the invasive segment, but the gap is narrowing. China’s advantage lies in the non-invasive segment, where both China and the US are starting from a similar position.

In addition, China boasts vast clinical resources and data potential, with unprecedented policy support. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other authorities have included BCIs in national strategic emerging industries, the National Healthcare Security Administration in 2025 issued independent pricing standards (e.g., about 6,600 yuan per instance for invasive implantation), and the Drug Administration published industry standards, paving the way for commercialization.

Domestic Progress: Accelerating Clinical Breakthroughs, Unicorn Enterprises Emerging

Despite a technological gap, Chinese companies have made substantial progress along various technology routes and are rapidly catching up with international progress.

In the invasive and semi-invasive fields, domestic companies are intensively carrying out clinical trials. According to Guosen Securities, Jieti Medical and Huashan Hospital have completed the country’s first prospective clinical trial of an invasive BCI system, where the subject can control a mouse with their mind; Brain Tiger Technology also completed the first clinical trial of high-throughput flexible BCI for real-time synthesis of Chinese; Brikang’s semi-invasive product NEO is expected to receive the world’s first class III medical device certificate in the first half of 2026. In addition, Xinwei Medical and Nankai University are laying out interventional technology and plan to complete their first human implantation by the end of 2026.

In the non-invasive field, commercialization is more mature. According to The Paper, BCI “unicorn” BrainCo recently completed about 2 billion yuan in funding, with investors including IDG and Walden International. As one of the “six little dragons of Hangzhou,” BrainCo has received FDA and CE certification and is among the few enterprises globally to achieve large-scale BCI production. Their products include brain-controlled bionic hands, sleep devices, etc.

At the public company level, Sanbo Brain Hospital participated in the world’s first interventional BCI-assisted clinical trial for limb movement restoration; Chengyitong launched a biofeedback system for the education sector; Xiangyu Medical and Weisi Medical are actively developing BCI-enabled rehabilitation equipment, with multiple prototypes already launched or under development.

According to institutional analysis, with Neuralink’s mass production expectations being realized and breakthroughs in domestic clinical trials, the BCI industry is entering a moment of “technological and commercial resonance.” Future investment opportunities will focus on leading enterprises with core technological barriers and those that can achieve commercial closed loops in rehabilitation, industrial control, and other scenarios.

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