Neuralink
Brain-Computer Interface System Developer
On the first trading day of A-shares in 2026, the capital market witnessed a "tech frenzy" as brain-computer interface (BCI) concepts surged collectively, with nearly all related stocks experiencing skyrocketing gains. By mid-morning trading, Beiyikang hit its 30% limit up, while six stocks including Sanbo Brain Hospital, Xiangyu Medical, and Meihao Medical reached their 20% limit up. Chuangxin Medical and Nanjing Panda achieved their 10% limit up, and multiple other stocks such as Botuo Biology and Dinake rose by more than 10%. The entire sector presented a widespread and fervent rally.
What ignited this fire was precisely Musk’s recent New Year’s official announcement.
| Brain-Computer Interfaces “Surge”: Musk Launches Mass Production
On December 31, 2025, Musk announced on social media that his brain-computer interface company, Neuralink, would commence “high-volume mass production” this year and transition to a more streamlined, fully automated surgical procedure.
Many may wonder: Isn’t brain-computer interface technology still in the clinical trial phase? How did it suddenly leap from science fiction movies to mass production? And what is Neuralink’s background?
The core function of brain-computer interfaces is to establish a direct “mind-controlled” connection between the brain and external devices. By bypassing the body’s damaged nervous system, implanted microelectrode arrays directly read electrical signals generated by neuronal activity and translate these bioelectric signals in real time into machine-readable commands, thereby circumventing physical constraints and directly enabling “mind control.”
One of the biggest obstacles to translating this technology from the laboratory into large-scale clinical application is the implantation surgery itself. Traditional craniotomy requires removing part of the skull and incising the dura mater that protects the brain, a process that is complex, highly invasive, and associated with a prolonged recovery period.
Neuralink is a U.S.-based brain-computer interface company founded by Elon Musk in 2016, focusing on developing implantable devices to enable direct interaction between the human brain and machines. What Musk emphasized on Twitter refers precisely to Neuralink’s key breakthrough in implantation technology—its novel electrodes may penetrate the natural structures of the dura mater to reach target brain regions in a more precise manner, akin to “minimally invasive intervention,” without requiring resection.
If realized, this transformation would shift brain-computer interface (BCI) implantation from high-risk neurosurgical procedures to standardized medical interventions that are less invasive, shorter in duration, and more cost-effective.
Neuralink's Brain-Computer Interface Device
In January 2024, Neuralink completed its first human implant. By September 2025, 12 individuals worldwide had received the device, a number that rose directly to 20 by December. The cumulative usage time exceeded 15,000 hours, with a device stability compliance rate of 98%. No major rejection reactions occurred, and some users were even able to control robotic arms via thought alone. Neuralink is steadily progressing from the laboratory to clinical application.
Elon Musk previously revealed that the goal is to serve over 1,000 people by 2026. To achieve this objective, the company began recruiting core manufacturing experts for mass production in late 2024. If large-scale mass production can be realized in 2026, those most directly benefiting may well be the souls trapped within their physical constraints. At that time, patients with spinal cord injuries, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and even Parkinson’s disease will regain the opportunity to communicate and interact with the world.
Meanwhile, another technological approach has seen new developments: Merge Labs, co-founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, is spinning off into an independent company focused on using ultrasound to read brain activity, enabling large-scale interpretation of brain signals without implanted electrodes. In China, Gestalt Inc., jointly initiated by Peng Lei, former co-founder of BrainCo Technology, and Chen Tianqiao, has been officially established, becoming the first domestic enterprise dedicated to ultrasonic brain-computer interface technology. The global competitive landscape in this field is quietly taking shape.
| Clinical Breakthroughs in Brain-Computer Interface Technology: 2025 Becomes the “Year One” of Development
As overseas giants accelerate mass production, China’s brain-computer interface (BCI) industry has also pressed the “accelerator.” The year 2025, just passed, was hailed by the industry as the “Year One” of China’s BCI development, with a series of clinical breakthroughs and technological achievements being intensively realized.
In China, a series of brain-computer interface (BCI) companies aligned with Neuralink’s technological roadmap have emerged. Companies such as Stairway Medical, NeuroXess, Xinzhida, and BrainCo have entered the clinical validation phase, establishing a parallel development landscape across three major technical pathways: invasive, semi-invasive, and non-invasive. Each sector has demonstrated remarkable progress, and the number of patients receiving implants is expected to increase further in 2026.
NeuroX’s self-developed 256-channel high-throughput implantable flexible brain-computer interface (BCI) has reached a world-leading level, with its fully implantable, fully wireless product having completed the first clinical trial. Furthermore, the company announced that it will complete the registration for formal clinical trials of its BCI devices in 2026, accelerating the commercialization and market launch of related BCI products. By the end of 2025, NeuroX had completed 54 human implants of its brain-computer interfaces.
Shenfu Jianxing Team Completes World’s First Four Cases of Clinical Validation for Brain-Spine Interface, Enabling Four Patients with Severe Spinal Cord Injuries to Achieve Voluntary Leg Control and Ambulation Within Two Weeks Post-Surgery.
NEO system, developed by Neuracle, requires only a small hole in the skull to implant a coin-sized device, enabling thought-controlled grasping. The nationwide multicenter clinical trial launched in 2025 has completed 32 surgical implants, with significant postoperative rehabilitation outcomes observed in patients.
Hangzhou Shenzong Technology’s polysomnography monitors have been deployed in over 1,000 hospitals, enabling integrated monitoring of indicators such as electroencephalogram (EEG) and electrocardiogram (ECG).
BrainCo has launched a consumer-facing smart sleep aid device, while companies such as Chengyitong and Xiangyu Medical are applying their technologies to scenarios including anesthesia monitoring and medical rehabilitation, with products gradually entering the commercialization phase.
Jieti Medical released updates on the prospective clinical trials of its ultra-flexible, minimally invasive implantable brain-computer interface system in May this year.
More notably, core domestic technologies continue to achieve breakthroughs. Li Wenyu, Director of the Intellectual Property and Innovation Development Center at the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT), stated, “The number of channels in domestically developed brain-computer interface chips and implantable electrodes is continuously increasing, with stability gradually improving; meanwhile, the application of artificial intelligence has significantly enhanced decoding accuracy, successfully enabling the decoding of fine motor intentions.”
The cases at Huashan Hospital, affiliated with Fudan University, provide an even more intuitive demonstration of its technological prowess: a patient paralyzed for eight years was able to play “Snake” using only their thoughts just 17 days after surgery, while another patient with high-level paraplegia for four years regained the ability to grasp objects voluntarily and sign their name again within two months.
| Policy and Industry Dual Boost: China’s Brain-Computer Interface Enters a “Golden Development Period”
Beyond technological breakthroughs, policy support and the formation of industrial clusters are safeguarding the development of China’s brain-computer interface industry.
In 2025, China witnessed frequent policy releases and continuous progress in the field of brain-computer interfaces (BCIs). In March, the National Healthcare Security Administration established a separate pricing item specifically for new BCI technologies, thereby providing a regulatory basis for related medical charges. Also in 2025, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, together with six other departments, jointly issued the "Implementation Opinions on Promoting the Innovative Development of the Brain-Computer Interface Industry." This document systematically outlined the development path, clarified key tasks, and formulated safeguard measures for the BCI industry for the first time, thereby establishing its status as a formal and recognized sector. Furthermore, the 15th Five-Year Plan explicitly identified brain-computer interfaces as a future industry for forward-looking strategic deployment.
On January 1, 2026, China’s first medical device standard for brain-computer interfaces (BCIs)—the “Terminology for Medical Devices Employing Brain-Computer Interface Technology”—officially came into effect. This standard clarifies technical definitions and classifications, establishes clear thresholds for “true” BCIs, and accelerates clinical trials and regulatory approval processes for compliant enterprises. Meanwhile, in September 2025, the National Healthcare Security Administration issued a directive requiring proper coding and declaration of innovative BCI-based medical consumables, thereby addressing the “last mile” challenge of hospital adoption after product approval and clearing obstacles to commercial implementation.
Fueled by supportive policies, capital market enthusiasm has surged. Data from IT Juzi shows that as of November 2025, there had been 16 financing and investment deals in the brain-computer interface (BCI) sector throughout the year, totaling nearly RMB 1 billion—far exceeding the RMB 200 million recorded for the entire year of 2024. Notably, Stairway Medical’s RMB 350 million Series B financing set a new record for the largest single funding round in China’s implantable BCI sector in 2025.
The cluster effect of the industry is also accelerating. The “Brain-Intelligence World” at the Shanghai New Hongqiao International Medical Center, as the first future industrial aggregation zone for brain-computer interfaces in China, has begun to take shape, integrating upstream and downstream industrial chains to create synergistic effects; Beijing’s Changping District aims to form a hundred-billion-yuan-level industrial cluster by 2030, the Greater Bay Area Brain-Computer Interface Innovation Industry Alliance has been launched, and Jiangxi Ganjiang New Area is building rehabilitation centers and EEG datasets. An industrial ecosystem across China is taking shape.
Clearly, China’s brain-computer interface industry is ushering in unprecedented development opportunities and accelerating into a “golden period” of coordinated advancement across “policy–standards–technology–industry–clinical applications.”
| A Trillion-Dollar Market Unveiled
In terms of market size, according to data from Precedence Research, the global brain-computer interface (BCI) market is projected to grow to approximately USD 12.4 billion by 2034, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 17% from 2025 to 2034.
A research report by Kaiyuan Securities points out that Neuralink’s mass production expectations and technological breakthroughs, along with the deployment of next-generation ultrasonic brain-computer interfaces (BCIs), mark the transition of BCIs from the clinical validation phase to the stage of commercial-scale implementation. In the future, BCIs will expand beyond essential medical applications into diverse fields such as AI applications and robotics.
In 2026, as domestic and international companies accelerate mass production, the application scenarios for brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) will become increasingly diverse. Transitioning from technical prototypes in laboratories to clinical products, and garnering enthusiastic acclaim in capital markets, the golden age of BCIs has arrived.