Chinese BCI Firm Nanochap Sets World Record: Blind Patient Recognizes Letters One Day After Implant Activation

China has achieved a landmark breakthrough in visual brain-computer interface technology.

Recently, Nanochap announced interim results from its GCP clinical trial of high-resolution visual BCIs. A subject who had been blind for nearly two decades gained the ability to recognize complex letters on the second day after the system was activated, following implantation of Nanochap’s high-resolution visual BCI device.

This result breaks through the clinical limitations of traditional artificial retinal products for the first time—similar devices usually require 3 to 6 months of intensive neuroplasticity training after activation to achieve effective visual perception. It marks a key leap for China in the cutting-edge medical field of visual BCIs, moving the technology from scientific research into clinical practice.

“I hope the first thing I see is my child. I gave birth to him years ago, but I have never seen him once. I only hear people say your son is so handsome. I have no idea what handsome looks like,” the subject with retinitis pigmentosa said in an interview. The simple wish is touching and represents the ultimate dream of all blind people.

Nanochap’s breakthrough brings hope to these patients—after implantation of the high-resolution visual BCI, the subject sensed light on the first day the system was powered on.

“I was really excited at that moment. I thought, hey, I can see light. Regaining sight is really possible,” the patient said, with undisguised surprise in the interview.

On the second day of activation, the subject successfully recognized complex letters such as H and R, setting a new record for visual reconstruction via visual BCIs. Prior to this, products such as Argus II and Prima generally required long-term training to achieve basic letter recognition.

For the approximately 43 million blind people and 238 million people with low vision worldwide, this milestone breakthrough in visual BCIs is of great significance.

At present, visual BCIs that can help blind people restore vision are mainly implanted through two pathways: the fundus retina and the cerebral visual cortex. As the name suggests, retinal implants transmit visual signals to the brain through functional neurons in the retina. From a surgical perspective, the implantation risk of ophthalmic surgery is significantly lower than that of brain implantation surgery, so this technical path avoids major challenges such as ethical issues, privacy issues and long-term safety risks brought by intracranial implantation.

In contrast, the cortical visual pathway implants electrode arrays in the visual cortex area. By completely bypassing the optic nerve pathway, it improves the universality of visual reconstruction, and can also realize artificial visual reconstruction for patients with eyeball loss, optic nerve atrophy or absence. However, it involves intracranial implantation, and the corresponding clinical safety requirements are greatly increased. It is still some time away from widespread rollout.

Nanochap, which has long been deeply engaged in the visual BCI track, has proactively laid out dual routes for visual reconstruction based on a comprehensive judgment of technical paths, including the retinal pathway visual BCI E-BCI and the cortical pathway visual BCI V-BCI, which can be applied to the vast majority of blind groups. The product that achieved vision on the second day of activation is exactly the retinal pathway product E-BCI.

Capturing images through an external miniature camera, the product can convert light signals into electrical signals. These electrical signals are then neurally encoded and transmitted wirelessly to the device implanted in the patient. The high-density electrode array inside the device applies simulated neural signals to the retina, generating visual perception in the cerebral cortex and allowing patients to see images.

Although the technical path is the same, traditional retinal interfaces adopt the simplest linear image-to-electrical stimulation mapping scheme. Patients’ brains need months of adaptation before they can successfully recognize letters.

After more than ten years of independent development, Nanochap E-BCI has overcome multiple key technologies such as core chips, high-density electrode arrays and intelligent neural encoding algorithms, realized the full localization of technology and products, and finally reached the milestone of “vision on the second day of activation”.

Limited by electrode density, signal processing capacity and the extremely narrow space of the macular area at the fundus, traditional retinal interfaces usually have only dozens of pixels, and patients can only perceive light spots or simple outlines. To present better images, the number of channels and density must be greatly increased.

The chip equipped in Nanochap E-BCI successfully integrates 320 signal channels in a very small area of the macular region (3mm×3mm), and has 256-level grayscale high-precision adjustment. Compared with international 60-channel similar products, it has significant advantages in both the number of stimulation points and visual imaging resolution, and its comprehensive performance has reached the international leading level.

It also adopts biocompatible materials combined with flip-chip bonding technology, successfully breaking through the physical bottleneck of one-to-one wire connection between traditional electrodes and chip channels, and realizing wire-free bonding between chips and electrodes. This “back-to-back” wire-free connection method not only significantly improves the stability and durability of the chip, but also greatly reduces the size of the implant, thus effectively reducing surgical risks.

Meanwhile, the design adopts a 3D electrode array. Each electrode has a three-dimensional structure and a surface composite coating. With the current steering control of the chip, it forms a precisely focused electric field, which greatly improves the targeting of nerve cells and visual spatial resolution of the product.

In terms of core technology, Nanochap’s team independently developed “high-density feedthrough technology” and “ultra-small volume bioglass hermetic packaging technology” to ensure long-term implantation of the implant in the harsh environment of the body. Related technologies are scarce internationally and have obtained international invention patents.

To further improve the safety and effectiveness of the product during the implantation cycle, Nanochap also self-developed charge balance technology, with a charge mismatch rate as low as about 0.5%, reaching the international optimal level, which can effectively reduce the corrosion of electrodes by residual electrical stimulation charges and potential damage to nerve cells.

In terms of algorithms, Nanochap E-BCI has a built-in fully self-developed intelligent neural encoding algorithm. Instead of simply mapping camera pixels to electrodes one-to-one, it simulates the complete encoding process of the human visual system from the retina to the visual cortex. According to different environments and scenes, it performs multi-layer processing such as image feature extraction, target enhancement and stimulation strategies in advance to generate neural encoding patterns closer to the brain’s natural visual signals.

This is also the key to the product’s ability to “recognize complex letters on the second day of activation”.

Due to differences in the degree of retinal degeneration and neuron response characteristics among visually impaired patients, all waveform parameters of Nanochap E-BCI can be adjusted arbitrarily, such as current amplitude, waveform, frequency, phase, circuit path, charge release path, etc., breaking the limitation of fixed stimulation modes of traditional products.

The product obtained the type test report in 2024. Its key indicators such as biocompatibility and implant life of more than 10 years have been verified. It has also completed nearly 100 large animal and primate experiments, verifying the safety and effectiveness of the product in vivo.

The major breakthrough in this GCP clinical trial shows that all technical indicators of its visual BCI have reached the world’s top level, laying a foundation for the next step of multi-center registrational clinical trials.

Nanochap is also making rapid progress in cortical pathway visual BCIs. Its V-BCI product is benchmarked against Neuralink’s Blindsight, which has obtained FDA Breakthrough Device designation, and even outperforms it in key indicators such as signal processing and neural electrical stimulation accuracy.

In this product, Nanochap has realized 1,280 signal channels, reaching the highest level of similar products in the world at present.

V-BCI uses flexible electrodes attached to the primary visual cortex, which can cover a wider field of view. At the same time, the high-density microelectrode array combined with the chip’s current steering control function also helps to make the electric field formed by the electrodes more focused, improve spatial resolution, and limit the neuron activation range from multiple cortical columns to a single cortical column or even a small number of neurons.

At present, the cortical BCI has started animal experiments and will conduct prospective human clinical trials this year.

Nanochap’s achievements in BCI are inseparable from the technical background of its founder Yang Jiawei, whose academic and research career spans two top universities: Zhejiang University and the University of Melbourne. After receiving his doctorate, Yang joined the Neural Engineering Center of the University of Melbourne as a researcher.

The center is recognized as a top research institution in the field of BCI and neural engineering in the world. The core technologies of Cochlear, the world’s largest cochlear implant manufacturer, and Synchron, one of the world’s most well-known BCI companies, also originate from this center.

Relying on its strong scientific research and development strength, Nanochap successfully passed the national-level Specialized, Sophisticated, Distinctive and Innovative “Little Giant” enterprise certification in September 2024, becoming a benchmark enterprise in China’s BCI field, and recently completed 300 million yuan of strategic financing. The raised funds will be mainly used to promote clinical trials of visual BCI products and iterate core technologies.

At present, Nanochap has built a nearly 2,000-square-meter Class 10,000 GMP clean workshop, with a complete independent production line for BCI implants. All core manufacturing equipment and all key processes are independently developed in a forward-looking manner. The company has also passed the ISO 13485 system assessment and obtained certification. It has applied for more than 100 core technology patents, including more than 20 overseas PCT patents.

So far, Nanochap has successfully built a full-chain technology platform from core integrated circuits to system algorithms and then to manufacturing. Through multiple key technological breakthroughs such as high-density 3D electrodes, high-throughput BCI chips, ultra-precision MEMS technology, dynamic parameter regulation and charge balance technology, Nanochap has built a moat for the underlying technology of visual BCIs.

Since the beginning of this year, driven by various favorable factors, the primary market for BCIs has maintained strong popularity. According to incomplete statistics, in the past six months, more than 30 financing deals have been completed in China’s BCI field, with a total financing amount of more than 4 billion yuan, which has already surpassed last year’s total financing amount. It is a foregone conclusion that the annual financing scale will increase significantly and hit a record high.

At the Fourth Session of the 14th National People’s Congress in March, BCI was written into the government work report again, and was explicitly listed as one of the future industries to be cultivated and developed for the first time. This provides the highest level of policy endorsement for the entire industry, indicating that the country will increase its support for scientific and technological research and industrial development in this field.

As a leading enterprise in visual BCIs, Nanochap’s breakthrough is impressive. It will become one of the core forces driving the transformation of the global implantable BCI industry and bring more surprises and breakthroughs to China’s scientific and technological innovation.