As massive funds pour into China's humanoid (human-type robot) industry, startups with valuations exceeding 20 billion yuan (about 4.55 trillion won) are emerging one after another. As the Chinese government fosters the artificial intelligence (AI)-based robot industry as a next-generation growth engine and private capital embarks on aggressive investments, the valuations of promising corporations are rapidly jumping. However, some note a cautious view that soaring valuations do not necessarily mean technological excellence.
On the 30th, according to Chinese financial media Caixin and Bloomberg News, embodied AI robot firms "AI² Robotics (智平方)" and "X Square Robot (自变量)" recently each surpassed a 20 billion yuan valuation.
◇ AI² Robotics doubles its valuation in four months
AI² Robotics said the previous day it had secured a new investment of about 5 billion yuan (about 1.14 trillion won). AI² Robotics is a third-year startup headquartered in Shenzhen, founded by CEO Guo Yendong, an AI expert who built his career at Microsoft headquarters, Xpeng Motors, and OPPO. The company is drawing attention for technology that enables AI to perceive, judge, and act in the real world.
With this investment, AI² Robotics' valuation, which had been around 10 billion yuan, has more than doubled in four months. The investment involved state-owned capital from Guangdong province, as well as China Biopharma, Kweichow Moutai, and CMB Capital, among other state-owned and private corporations. Many of Tesla's key supply chain corporations are also said to have taken part.
AI² Robotics plans to inject the funds into advancing its robot AI models and building a mass-production system. It will expand its current annual production capacity of 2,000–3,000 units to more than 10,000 in the second half of this year and build a humanoid mass-production plant with an annual capacity of tens of thousands of units. CEO Guo told Caixin that the company's humanoids are already in actual operation on the production lines of semiconductor panel maker HKC and cosmetics and biotech corporation Huaxi Bio (华熙生物). AI² Robotics is also said to be preparing for a stock market listing.
◇ X Square Robot draws major Chinese big tech investment
That same day, X Square Robot, which received investment from Alibaba, said it recently completed four follow-on funding rounds, pushing its valuation above 20 billion yuan. X Square Robot was founded in 2023 in Shenzhen by co-founders Wang Qian and Wang Hao, graduates of Tsinghua University and Peking University. The company is developing an AI system that enables general-purpose robots to see, judge, and move in the real world. In particular, its AI simultaneously learns and processes vision, language, and action data within a single neural network.
X Square Robot's products are currently being deployed on the housekeeping service sites of the life-service platform "58 Daojia (58到家)." However, for now, the robots autonomously perform some tasks, and when tasks are delayed, operators control them remotely.
Meituan, Alibaba, ByteDance Ltd., and Xiaomi—China's representative big tech firms—joined the investment rounds one after another. Policy and venture funds also poured in, including IDG Capital, HSG (formerly Sequoia China), China Mobile, and the National Investment and Innovation Fund.
◇ Bubble concerns amid investment frenzy
This year, investment fever in China's Humanoid Robot industry has grown even hotter. According to Chinese market research firm IT Juzi, the cumulative investment raised by related firms this year has already surpassed last year's annual total, reaching more than 46 billion yuan (about 10.47 trillion won). In addition to AI² Robotics and X Square Robot, Yinhe Tongyong (银河通用) and Xinghaitu (星海图) each recorded valuations above 20 billion yuan in the first half.
Investors are particularly focused on firms that develop AI models serving as the robot's brain. That is because the technology that enables humanoids to recognize their surroundings and perform tasks like people will be the key competitive edge determining humanoids' productivity and economics.
However, some assess that the recent surge in valuations of Chinese robot firms does not in itself prove technological superiority and instead reflects market expectations. Xia Zhijin, a partner at local venture capital firm Shunfeng Investment, told Caixin, "It is difficult to judge the technological gap among corporations based on valuation alone," adding, "As the number of investable firms in large language models (LLMs) and AI agents has dwindled, capital is flowing into the robotics field, and expectations that robots can grow into a market larger than electric vehicles are lifting robot firms' valuations."