China’s robot makers have mastered the moves. Now comes the race for brains.

A Spirit AI's Moz1 humanoid robot serves candied hawthorn on sticks, simulating a cafe as a demonstration, at the 2026 Zhongguancun forum, in Beijing on March 25. | REUTERS

Nov 2, 2026

Beijing – After years of building humanoid robots capable of running, dancing and performing backflips, Chinese companies are pouring resources into a different challenge: developing the artificial intelligence that could make those machines useful across a wider range of jobs.

The shift is fueling an investment boom in embodied AI, a field focused on software that allows robots to understand their surroundings, learn unfamiliar tasks and adapt without having to be programmed for every job.

Chinese embodied AI companies raised 93.5 billion yuan ($13 billion) across 322 deals in the first half of 2026, five times the amount a year earlier, according to data research firm ITjuzi. Funding is increasingly reaching specialist developers of robot intelligence alongside manufacturers.

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