"Report" predicts that the domestic brain-computer interface market size will surpass 5 billion yuan by 2026.

Ask AI · Why will the brain-computer interface industry experience rapid growth in 2026?

Reporter Qu Zhongfang, Beijing report

Since the 2026 Government Work Report first included “brain-computer interfaces” and listed it as a future industry, China’s brain-computer interface industry has entered the fast lane. On April 1, the China Brain-Computer Interface Commercialization Outlook Report (hereinafter referred to as “the Report”) jointly released by Beijing Fourth Wave Technology Think Tank and Zhongguancun Tiancheng Innovation Research Center predicted that the market size of brain-computer interfaces is expected to surpass 5 billion yuan by 2026 and maintain rapid growth, reaching 15 billion yuan by 2030.

The Report shows that to promote the development of the brain-computer interface industry, the National Venture Capital Guidance Fund, representing the “national team,” officially launched in December 2025, funded by ultra-long-term special government bonds, and designated “brain-computer interfaces” as one of the seven key investment areas. Many regions have introduced policies for the brain-computer interface industry and established special funds. For example, Beijing released in February 2026 the “Zhongguancun Science City Science and Technology Growth Phase IV Fund” with a total scale of 8 billion yuan, of which 1 billion yuan for industrial direct investment explicitly targeted future industries such as brain-computer interfaces; Shanghai promoted the establishment of a dedicated fund of tens of billions of yuan for brain science and brain-like intelligence; Shenzhen set up multiple specialized funds for brain science and brain-like intelligence to support upstream core link research and industrialization, such as flexible electrodes and high-throughput chips.

In terms of corporate financing, the Report, based on investment and financing data collected from platforms like Wind and IT Juzi, indicates that brain-computer interface companies have entered an unprecedented active phase in the primary market since 2025, with at least 24 financing events in the year, totaling over 1.45 billion yuan. In contrast, in the first three months of 2026 alone, there have been at least 17 financing events, with total funding surpassing that of all of 2025. Among them, Kangnao Technology completed a 2 billion yuan Series B+ financing at the beginning of the year, becoming the largest single financing in China’s brain-computer interface sector; ultrasonic brain-computer interface company Tasi Technology completed 150 million yuan in angel round financing, setting a new record for angel round funding in this field; Ladder Medical received 500 million yuan investment, led by Alibaba and followed by Tencent, marking deep involvement of internet giants in the brain-computer interface field.

According to the analysis and research of over 80 domestic brain-computer interface companies in the Report, the industry is gradually entering a stage of exploring diverse applications. Companies are continuously innovating toward application implementation. With the trend of decreasing costs and breakthroughs in application scenarios, the industry is expected to reach an exponential growth “singularity”. Currently, applications of brain-computer interfaces are concentrated in medical, education, industrial and specialized operations, metaverse, and intelligent cockpit sectors.

In medical applications, these include neurological rehabilitation and motor function reconstruction, mental illness treatment, epilepsy warning and therapy, visual impairment, among others. The application of brain-computer interfaces in neurorehabilitation and cognitive intervention directly connects with medical insurance payments and commercial insurance, making the market size very significant. In industrial and specialized operation fields, such as power inspection, high-speed rail driving, aerospace, and other high-risk or high-focus industries, fatigue monitoring and thought-controlled systems based on brain-computer interfaces are becoming standard safety configurations. The centralized procurement model from commercial and government sectors can quickly help brain-computer interface companies recover R&D costs and is expected to be among the earliest fields to achieve large-scale commercial deployment.

(Edited by: Zhang Jingchao; Reviewed by: Li Zhenghao; Proofread by: Zhai Jun)