China’s Brain-Computer Interface Industry – Tapping into the Future of Human-Machine Integration

China’s brain-computer interface industry is poised for major growth in the coming years as new technological breakthroughs open up possibilities across healthcare, education, entertainment, and more. Beyond the potential to revolutionize healthcare, the industry serves a strategic purpose in the country’s wider aims to spur innovation and technological advancement and usher in new economic opportunities. We look at the growth trajectory of this emerging industry and discuss the government policies seeking to foster its development.

China is ramping up support for one of the next big future industries – brain-computer interfaces (BCIs). As a technology with the potential to open up vast new frontiers in healthcare, biotechnology, and entertainment, BCIs are becoming a priority in China’s push to secure global leadership in high-tech industries. While still small in overall scale, the market is projected to see double-digit growth in the coming years, and new technological breakthroughs present huge potential for applications ranging from advanced prosthetics and neurorehabilitation to immersive gaming. 

While many Chinese BCI companies are relatively new on the scene, others have been quietly advancing the field for a decade or more, developing world-class expertise and amassing significant patent portfolios. Strong government backing, clear policy roadmaps, and a growing roster of innovative firms are poised to transform China’s BCI sector, with major prospects for the future of human-machine communication.

What is a brain-computer interface?

A BCI enables direct communication between the brain and an external device without the need for physical movement or voice commands. By detecting and interpreting neural activity, BCIs convert brain signals into commands that can control equipment, such as a computer or prosthetic limb. The technology holds –and has been proven to have –significant potential for use in both medical and commercial settings. 

BCIs are generally divided into non-invasive and invasive types. Non-invasive systems, such as electroencephalography (EEG) caps, record brain activity from the scalp and process the signals with algorithms. While less precise than invasive methods, they are safer, easier to use, and already applied in motor rehabilitation, cognitive training, and communication for people with severe paralysis. Invasive BCIs involve implanting electrodes into the cerebral cortex for high-precision neural control. They have been successfully used in neurosurgery to map brain activity, protect vital functions, and guide tumor removal, as seen in a recent Sichuan case where invasive BCI helped safely remove a cancerous brain tumor known as a glioma.

Beyond healthcare, BCIs are being explored in sectors like education and entertainment, with the potential to transform human–machine interaction in everyday life. 

What’s behind China’s drive to develop BCIs?

China’s push to develop the BCI industry reflects a broader strategic effort to secure global leadership in high-tech, high-value sectors and to advance its position in the global innovation landscape. The BCI industry, sitting at the intersection of life sciences, IT, and neuroscience, is a key frontier in biotechnology and emerging digital health technologies. By investing in BCIs, China aims to leverage its existing strengths in biotech and IT to cultivate a cutting-edge sector capable of producing high-performance products, fostering globally competitive enterprises, and creating a new industrial ecosystem with both commercial and strategic value.

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Developing the BCI industry dovetails with China’s long-term economic strategy to move up the value chain by transitioning from traditional manufacturing toward high-tech, knowledge-intensive industries. These industries, now falling under the heading of New Quality Productive Forces (NQPFs), can generate higher economic returns as labor-intensive and low-cost manufacturing increasingly reshores, while also enhancing domestic innovation capacity and reducing reliance on foreign technology. The development of BCIs aligns with these goals by creating opportunities for advanced device manufacturing, software development, AI integration, and precision healthcare solutions, all of which carry significant economic and technological potential. 

If the technology is successful, BCIs may also unlock a whole new ecosystem of commercial applications. In entertainment, BCIs could drive immersive gaming, virtual reality, and augmented reality experiences that respond directly to users’ neural signals, creating new forms of interactive media. While still in its infancy, this technology could become a lucrative industry and important economic driver in the decades to come. 

Demographic and societal factors also motivate the expansion of the BCI industry. China faces an aging population and rising demand for medical intervention, rehabilitation, and long-term healthcare management. BCIs offer the potential to improve treatment outcomes for neurological, psychiatric, and motor disorders, and to enhance patient monitoring, rehabilitation, and preventive care. Moreover, the technology can support broader healthcare goals, such as improving management of chronic diseases, enhancing cognitive function, and addressing high-burden conditions, including cancer and neurodegenerative diseases. 

China’s BCI industry landscape

According to a report on the Current Status and Trends of China’s Brain-Computer Interface Industry from CCID Consulting, an IT research and consulting firm, China’s BCI industry reached RMB 3.2 billion (US$446 million) in 2024, a year-on-year growth rate of 18.8 percent. The report projects that the market will grow to RMB 5.58 billion (US$777.7 million) by 2027, exhibiting a year-on-year growth rate of 20 percent.  

Currently, the non-invasive segment accounted for around 82 percent of the total market, with a total value of RMB 2.63 billion (US$366.6 million) in 2024, reflecting the higher accessibility and easier application compared to invasive BCIs. However, invasive BCIs are expected to increase as a share of the industry as the technology develops and application becomes more widespread, reaching as high as 25 percent by 2027, according to CCID Consulting. 

China is already among the world leaders in BCI development. As of 2024, China had registered a total of 2,276 invention and utility model patents within the BCI industry, while corporate invention patent applications accounted for over 50 percent of the global total, according to the China Industry and Information Technology News Network. 

Key regions and players

According to CCID Consulting, by far the majority of companies operating in the BCI industry are located in Guangdong, with a total of 80 key companies as of 2024. This was followed by Jiangsu with 37, Zhejiang with 28, and Beijing with 26. Despite this, Beijing led the pack with the number of patent applications, totaling 484 in 2024. Guangdong came second with 360, followed by Tianjin with 294. This suggests that a few companies located in Beijing and Tianjin were particularly productive and successful in 2024, although the data does not indicate how many of the applications were successful.

Several leading Chinese companies have emerged across both invasive and non-invasive BCI segments, with some having been in operation for a decade or more. Their work spans applications from medical rehabilitation and neurological research to consumer health and human–machine interaction. The table below highlights ten of the most prominent firms currently operating in the sector.

Policies to develop the BCI industry

On July 20, 2025, the government released a policy document titled Implementation Opinions on Promoting Innovation and Development of the Brain-Computer Interface Industry (the Opinions), jointly issued by the Ministry of Science and Technology and other central innovation and industrial authorities. The Opinions provide a strategic roadmap for advancing the BCI sector, establishing milestones for 2027 and 2030, and outlining policies to strengthen research, industrial standards, high-performance product development, and real-world applications. 

The document sets clear targets for the BCI industry, aiming by 2027 to achieve breakthroughs in key technologies, establish an advanced technical and industrial system, and develop electrode, chip, and complete-system products at internationally competitive levels. By 2030, the policy envisions a mature, safe, and reliable industry ecosystem, with two to three globally influential leading companies and a cohort of specialized small and medium enterprises (SMEs), positioning China among the world’s foremost BCI innovators.

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To achieve these goals, the Opinions call for strengthening basic software and hardware. This includes developing advanced implantable electrodes for various brain regions, exploring new electrode materials and packaging techniques, and innovating non-invasive electrodes with high comfort and usability. Key BCI chips are to be developed with high channel counts, low power consumption, and integrated processing capabilities, while software platforms and decoding algorithms are to be optimized for accuracy, speed, and multi-scenario functionality. 

High-performance product development is another focus. The policy promotes breakthroughs in implantable devices integrating dense neural recording sensors and low-power chips, refinement of deep brain stimulators and cochlear implants, and iteration of non-implantable products such as wearable headsets, glasses, and ear-based devices. Auxiliary equipment, including multimodal physiological signal devices and high-precision surgical robots, is also emphasized to enhance BCI effectiveness and usability. 

The Opinions further encourage the translation of technological advances into practical applications. This includes promoting industrial and healthcare adoption, developing demonstration projects, establishing testing and pilot-production platforms, and integrating BCIs into consumer products, industrial safety management, remote control systems, rehabilitation, and personalized health monitoring. The policy outlines specific initiatives to deploy BCIs in challenging industrial environments, clinical treatment of neurological and psychiatric disorders, rehabilitation, and digital consumer experiences. 

Regional policies 

In addition to the national roadmap, several major Chinese cities and provinces have released their own BCI development plans, generally covering the 2025–2030 period. These jurisdictions are all major technology hubs with strong existing life sciences and digital technology sectors. 

• Beijing: On January 9, 2025, the Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission and other departments released the Beijing Brain-Computer Interface Innovation Development Action Plan (2025–2030), which sets key goals including:
  • By 2027: deliver a series of major original breakthroughs, overcome key bottlenecks in BCI electrodes, chips, and decoding algorithms, and build world-leading intelligent BCI systems for initial clinical use.
  • Nurture three to five unicorn or potential-unicorn companies with strong core competitiveness.
• Shanghai: On January 10, 2025, the Shanghai Municipal Science and Technology Commission released the Shanghai Brain-Computer Interface Future Industry Development Action Plan (2025–2030), which sets key goals including:
  • By 2027: achieve high-quality brain-control capabilities, lead in the domestic clinical application of semi-invasive BCIs, make breakthroughs in invasive BCI R&D, and form an initial BCI innovation ecosystem.
  • By 2030: realize widespread clinical application of BCI products, achieve full autonomy over core links in the industry chain, and establish a national-level BCI industrial cluster.
• Guangdong: On September 30, 2024, the Guangdong Provincial Government released the Action Plan for Accelerating the Cultivation of Future Industries, which includes BCIs under the “Life and Health” category and sets key directions, including:
  • Promote breakthroughs and industrialization in brain science and BCI technologies, alongside synthetic biology, AI plus biomedicine, and cell and gene therapy.
  • Focus development in Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Zhuhai, leveraging science parks, innovation zones, and cooperation areas to integrate biotechnology and IT.
• Sichuan: On May 12, 2025, the Sichuan Provincial Government released the Sichuan Brain-Computer Interface and Human–Machine Interaction Industry Breakthrough Action Plan (2025–2030), which sets key goals including:
  • By 2027: achieve key breakthroughs in both invasive and non-invasive BCIs; complete R&D and medical registration of three invasive and five non-invasive products; conduct the province’s first invasive BCI surgery; serve over 50,000 medical patients annually; and pilot applications in high-risk industries, eldercare, and rehabilitation robotics.
  • By 2030: achieve mass production and large-scale application; perform 3,000 invasive BCI surgeries annually; serve over 100,000 patients with neurological and psychiatric disorders each year; and expand applications into industrial manufacturing, healthcare, and emergency safety sectors. 

Investment opportunities for foreign investors

Foreign investors could find multiple entry points into China’s BCI industry. The sector is not restricted under the country’s current market access negative lists, the 2025 Market Access Negative List, or the 2024 Special Administrative Measures for Foreign Investment Access (Negative List). It is also actively supported under the Catalogue of Encouraged Industries for Foreign Investment (2022), which explicitly names “research, development, and manufacturing of new computer systems based on quantum and brain-like mechanisms.”

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One potential pathway for foreign firms is through collaboration with Chinese research institutes. Such collaborations can provide access to emerging innovations and position foreign investors at the center of China’s rapidly evolving BCI ecosystem. Another opportunity lies in investing directly in companies developing key BCI products, whether for medical applications—such as devices for motor rehabilitation or neurological treatment—or for non-medical sectors like education, entertainment, and human–machine interaction systems. 

There is also scope for entering the upstream and midstream supply chains, particularly in technologies and hardware that underpin BCI performance. For example, flexible electrodes are critical for stable, long-term, and safe neural signal acquisition, and advances in micro–nano processing and materials science are pushing these electrodes toward greater flexibility and miniaturization. According to the CCID Consulting report, Chinese companies and research institutions have begun developing new types of electrodes using hydrogels, nickel–titanium alloys, and other novel materials, which are significantly accelerating the adoption of implantable BCIs.  

Digital signal processing chips represent another key opportunity, as they determine the efficiency and scale of EEG signal processing. With the growing volume of neural data being collected, demand is rising for chips that can deliver high-throughput computation while maintaining a compact form factor, opening the door for foreign investors with expertise in advanced chip design and manufacturing. 

Potential restrictions and challenges 

While policy frameworks are broadly supportive, entering China’s BCI market is not without challenges. Medical applications in particular will be subject to strict regulatory oversight, requiring extensive clinical testing, medical device approval, and data security. Foreign firms working on medical-grade BCIs may face lengthy and complex approval processes from the NMPA and may be required to conduct local clinical trials.

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In addition, China’s Personal Information Protection Law (PIPL) and related personal information protection regulations impose stringent controls on the collection, storage, and cross-border transfer of sensitive personal information (including biological data), which could complicate cross-border projects involving neural signal processing or cloud-based analytics. 

From a market-access perspective, while foreign investment is encouraged, certain government procurement contracts may prioritize domestic suppliers, especially for technologies considered strategically important. There may also be an unspoken preference for solutions that integrate with China’s domestic supply chains, which could require foreign firms to localize production, partner with Chinese companies, or establish joint ventures.  

Competition is also already intensifying, with local players benefiting from strong state support, dedicated industrial parks, and integration into broader high-tech development initiatives, which may be harder for foreign companies to access.

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