China's robot makers shift focus to AI brains amid $13 billion investment boom
· Technology · Economic Times, Reuters
Chinese robot companies raised 93.5 billion yuan ($13 billion) in 322 deals during the first half of 2026, five times the previous year's funding, as they pivot from hardware to embodied AI software, according to ITjuzi data, with the shift driven by falling hardware margins and rising demand for adaptable intelligence, said ZenGen Labs founder Dermot McGrath, and the competition is intensifying the US-China tech rivalry as American firms lead in advanced systems while Chinese developers leverage manufacturing strength and real-world training data, as reported by Reuters interviews with five Chinese robotics firms and analysts
Why it matters
The surge in embodied AI investment could accelerate automation in factories and logistics, potentially reshaping global industrial productivity and the robotics market landscape
Read the original report — Economic Times
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