As Elon Musk's Neuralink stresses that it is leading the brain-computer interface (BCI) field, an analysis says China is already moving quickly beyond the research stage into a phase of large-scale commercialisation.

TechCrunch reported on Saturday that the Chinese government has laid institutional groundwork by setting prices for BCI medical services in Sichuan, Hubei and Zhejiang provinces and including them in the national health insurance system. In August 2025, China's industry ministry released a BCI industry roadmap, setting out goals to achieve key technology targets by 2027 and to foster companies with global competitiveness by 2030.

The rapid growth of China's BCI industry rests on four pillars: strong policy support, abundant clinical resources, mature manufacturing capability and strategic investment. The government has created an 11.6 billion yuan ($165 million) brain science fund and is speeding up clinical trials based on a large patient pool and relatively low research costs. China recently completed a successful clinical trial of a fully wireless BCI in which a paralysed patient controlled a device without external hardware, seen as the world's second such case after Neuralink.

Capital inflows are also active. Shanghai-based BCI startup StairMed Technology raised $48 million in Series B funding, and BrainCo is preparing a Hong Kong stock market listing after a $287 million investment. Separately, Zhiran Medical, which received investment from Sequoia China, is developing flexible high-throughput electrodes that improve long-term implant performance.

BCIs are technically divided into invasive and non-invasive types. NeuroXess and Neuralink are representative invasive players, while NeuroSky and BrainCo, among others, lead in non-invasive approaches. More recently, a range of approaches has also emerged, including ultrasound, magnetoencephalography (MEG), transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), optical-based and hybrid BCIs.

China in particular is focusing on non-invasive technologies, which offer high safety and are easier to commercialise. Gestala, founded in 2025, aims to treat chronic pain, stroke and depression using a non-invasive ultrasound BCI and said early clinical trials proved it could reduce pain by 50 percent in a single session.

The market is also expected to expand quickly. China's BCI market is forecast to grow from 3.2 billion yuan in 2024 to more than 3.8 billion yuan in 2025, and to exceed 120 billion yuan in 2040. Over the next 5 years, regulations are expected to be revised to meet international standards, with oversight likely to be strengthened, particularly on invasive devices and data sovereignty.