After artificial intelligence (AI) and semiconductors, the opening act of the U.S.-China tech hegemony war has arrived in brain science. The Chinese government this year designated the brain-computer interface (BCI) as a core national future industry. China is expected to chase U.S.-based Neuralink by leveraging massive policy support through the 15th five-year plan (2026–2030) and more flexible clinical and health insurance systems than those in the United States.
According to China's state-run Xinhua News Agency on the 6th, at the opening ceremony of the annual session of the National People's Congress of China held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing the previous day, BCI was cited as a future growth industry along with future energy, quantum technology, embodied intelligence, and sixth-generation mobile communications (6G). This is the first time BCI has been mentioned as a key industry in the National People's Congress of China work report.
On the same day, Yin Hejun, China's Minister of Science and Technology, said in the "ministers' passage," the first ministerial-level media interview of the National People's Congress of China, "We must expedite the implementation of major science and technology projects during the 15th five-year plan period," adding, "In particular, we need to step up scientific and technological breakthroughs in fields such as semiconductor integrated circuits, AI, and BCI." Earlier, Zheng Shanjie, director of the National Development and Reform Commission, also said in relation to the 15th five-year plan, "Future industries represented by BCI are accumulating potential and beginning to emerge, and in 10 years the size of this market will be comparable to creating another of China's high-tech industries."
BCI is a technology that analyzes signals generated in the brain to enable interaction with external devices. BCI is divided into an invasive method, which opens the skull to insert an implant into brain tissue and then extracts brain waves, and a noninvasive method, which measures signals through electrodes on the scalp surface without surgery.
Previously, seven ministries including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced a national roadmap for BCI industry development in Aug. last year. The gist is to establish industry standards such as BCI medical device standards and pricing criteria by 2030, build a supply chain, and foster globally competitive BCI corporations. At the end of the same year, authorities also announced a plan to create a brain science fund worth 11.6 billion yuan (about 2.4749 trillion won).
In academia, clinical trials have begun to get underway, and applied research is continuing in fields such as aerospace. U.S. IT outlet TechCrunch quoted Phoenix Feng, co-founder of Chinese BCI corporation NeuroXess, as saying, "Vast clinical resources are the foundation for China's BCI industry to develop rapidly," adding, "Unlike the United States, where commercialization requires approval from private insurers even after government authorization, China can move quickly to commercialization with only state approval."
Thanks to that, clinical trials involving real people in China are reportedly on the verge of commencement. According to the Chinese business outlet Cailianshe, BCI startup STAIRMED received approval from authorities to enter the "special review procedure for innovative medical devices" for its independently developed invasive BCI system. This procedure is a kind of fast-track system; if authorities recognize the innovativeness of STAIRMED's product, it can enter the stage of clinical trials on actual people more quickly.
U.S. billionaire Elon Musk's BCI developer Neuralink is also developing an invasive product like STAIRMED's. According to Cailianshe, the brain implant developed by STAIRMED is half the size of Neuralink's product. Its electrodes are reportedly as thin as one-hundredth the thickness of a human hair, so brain tissue hardly detects the implant's intrusion.
Investment money is also pouring in. STAIRMED raised funds amounting to about 70 billion won in Feb. last year. Another Chinese BCI firm, BrainCo, is also said to be preparing for a Hong Kong IPO after securing investment in the 400 billion won range.
TechCrunch said, "China's BCI startups are stepping up to challenge leading corporations such as the United States' Neuralink, Synchron, and Paradromics," and forecast, "China's domestic BCI market size will exceed 3.2 billion yuan (about 682 billion won) in 2024 to more than 3.8 billion yuan (about 810 billion won) in 2025, and 120 billion yuan (about 26 trillion won) in 2040."