Another "China-US rivalry"! Can China catch up in the field of brain-computer interfaces?
The United States and China are at odds again in the field of brain-computer interfaces!
On June 14th, the Chinese Academy of Sciences announced on its official website that institutions such as the Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences had successfully carried out China's first prospective clinical trial of an invasive brain-computer interface, marking that China has become the second country in the world to enter the clinical trial stage of invasive brain-computer interfaces.
In January 2024, Neuralink, a star brain-computer interface company under Elon Musk, successfully performed the world's first human brain chip implantation surgery. The latest progress of the Chinese Academy of Sciences also means that China has narrowed the gap with the international advanced level in the field of brain-computer interfaces.
Interestingly, just two days earlier, on June 12th, Neuralink submitted a document to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), planning to raise up to $649 million through an equity offering to advance the clinical trials of its The Link invasive brain-computer interface product and the development of subsequent products.
After sorting out by Arterial Network, it was found that there have been frequent progresses in the field of brain-computer interfaces in the past six months. In particular, China has continuously achieved milestone progresses in clinical practice, and the situation of "competition for hegemony between China and the United States" in the field of brain-computer interfaces has become very obvious.
Turning dreams into reality, China's invasive brain-computer interface sets a new record
This clinical trial is the first important achievement of the Shanghai Key Laboratory of Brain-Computer Interface Clinical Trials and Transformation, which was just established in December 2024. It was carried out jointly by the team of the Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Huashan Hospital Affiliated to Fudan University, and relevant enterprises.
Before entering the human trial, the team had successfully implanted an invasive brain-computer interface system into the hand and arm functional areas of the motor cortex of macaques in previous animal experiments. After training, the macaques were able to control the movement of the computer cursor only by neural activity and complete brain-controlled typing under target guidance. Subsequently, the research team safely removed the implant and re-implanted a new implant at the same cranial opening position.
From the first implantation to the removal and re-implantation of a new implant, the system ran stably throughout the animal experiment, without any infection or electrode failure. This also laid the foundation for the human trial and verified the feasibility of upgrading the implant through a second operation.
In March this year, the research entered the human clinical trial stage. A man who had his limbs amputated due to a high-voltage electric accident was able to play games on the computer through the brain-computer interface after only 2 - 3 weeks of training since the implantation of the brain-computer interface device, and his operation level was similar to that of an ordinary person using a computer touchpad.
Since the implantation of the brain-computer interface device in March this year, the system has been running stably, without any infection or electrode failure.
Next, the research team will try to let the subjects use a robotic arm through the brain-computer interface and attempt to control complex physical peripherals such as robotic dogs and embodied intelligent robots to expand the subjects' living boundaries. If the experiment is successful, this invasive brain-computer interface system is expected to significantly improve the quality of life of millions of patients with complete spinal cord injury, upper limb amputation, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in the future.
Excitingly, the brain-computer interface used in this trial has caught up and set a new global record in some indicators.
Firstly, it has the smallest size and the most flexible neural electrodes in the world at present: its cross-sectional area is only 1/5 - 1/7 of the electrodes used by Neuralink, and its flexibility is more than a hundred times that of Neuralink's electrodes - its softness is only at the level of intercellular forces. After implantation, brain cells can hardly "sense" the presence of a foreign object, which can minimize damage to brain tissue.
Secondly, based on the globally leading flexible electrodes, the integrated implant has a diameter of only 26mm and a thickness of less than 6mm, similar in size to a coin. Its size is only half of that of Neuralink's implant, making it the smallest invasive brain-computer interface implant in the world at present.
Therefore, this brain-computer interface only needs to "dig" a coin-sized groove in the skull above the motor cortex of the brain to embed the implant, and then make a puncture hole of only about 5mm in the groove to insert the electrodes into the cerebral cortex. There is no need to penetrate the skull entirely, which effectively reduces the risk during the operation and significantly shortens the postoperative recovery period.
In addition, the system also achieves dynamic optimization of the neural decoder through independent research and development, and can complete the entire process of feature extraction of neural signals, analysis of motor intentions, and generation of control instructions within a 10ms cycle. That's why the subjects can perform operations with high requirements such as playing racing games.
Previously, it was generally believed that China's brain-computer interface technology lagged behind the advanced level by 7 - 8 years. After China's clinical trials were carried out one after another in 2024, this gap has been greatly shortened to less than 3 years. The time between this trial and Neuralink's world's first human brain chip implantation surgery in January 2024 is about one and a half years, further narrowing the gap.
Breakthroughs have also been made in semi-invasive brain-computer interfaces, and the trend of brain-computer interface clinical trials is promising
In the field of semi-invasive brain-computer interfaces, China is also catching up.
In March before this, the Beijing Institute of Brain Science and Brain-like Intelligence announced that the semi-invasive brain-computer interface "Beinao No. 1" completed the first batch of a total of 3 human implantations. Among them, Peking University First Hospital and Beijing Tiantan Hospital Affiliated to Capital Medical University successively completed the world's first human implantations of a flexible, high-throughput, semi-invasive, wireless, fully implanted brain-computer system; Xuanwu Hospital of Capital Medical University completed the world's first wirelessly implanted Chinese language brain-computer interface, which helped patients with aphasia caused by amyotrophic lateral sclerosis to rebuild their communication ability.
According to reports, "Beinao No. 1" integrates China's independently developed flexible, high-density cerebral cortex electrodes, and the signal flux it collects reaches 128 channels, setting a new global record for similar products. In this trial, the proportion of effective channels of the device reached over 98%.
"Beinao No. 1" has also overcome three key core technologies: the first is a highly integrated micro host responsible for processing high-throughput, low-power signals; the second is a new generation of low-power, high-bandwidth wireless short-range communication technology; the third is the decoding of fine movements and highly accurate Chinese language, which has achieved the goal of real-time accuracy and meeting multiple scenarios.
It is particularly worth mentioning that "Beinao No. 1" is also the world's first wireless, fully implanted brain-computer system to achieve language decoding for aphasic patients. As the patient's amyotrophic lateral sclerosis progressed, he had extremely severe dysarthria, and his language communication with the outside world was extremely limited.
After the implantation, this 67-year-old patient only needed 3 hours of training to increase the real-time decoding accuracy of 62 commonly used words to 34%. After one week of training, the patient's real-time decoding accuracy reached 52%, and he was able to decode phrases such as "I want to drink water", "I want to eat", and "I'm in a good mood today. I want to take a walk with my family".
Combined with the real-time optimization of an adaptive error correction algorithm based on a large language model, the patient is expected to show significant potential for language recovery. This means that brain-computer interface technology is expected to provide a new, long-term, and stable language recovery solution for more patients with speech disorders, further expanding the boundaries of brain-computer interfaces in the field of neurological disease diagnosis and treatment.
What's even more anticipated is that Huashan Hospital and Xuanwu Hospital, two hospitals at the forefront of China's brain-computer interface field, announced in late May that they would jointly carry out the world's first clinical cohort study on brain-computer interfaces, and have started recruiting patients in Beijing and Shanghai simultaneously.
This clinical trial will enroll patients with spinal cord injuries, and plans to complete 30 to 50 implantation surgeries in 10 medical centers across the country by the end of 2025, aiming to systematically verify the effectiveness, safety, and long-term stability of implanted brain-computer interface technology.
Based on the layout of the "Brain Science and Brain-like Research" known as the "China Brain Project", the two major brain science centers in Beijing and Shanghai are the pioneers of China's brain-computer interface research. At present, most of the important research achievements in the field of brain-computer interfaces come from these two centers. However, with the in-depth research on brain-computer interfaces in recent years, other regions in China have also begun to stand out.
Tongji Hospital Affiliated to Huazhong University of Science and Technology opened the first brain-computer interface outpatient clinic and brain-computer interface research ward in Central China in early June and is open to the whole country, providing patients with evaluations and treatment consultations on brain-computer interface technology. After multi-dimensional screening, patients are expected to be preferentially included in the clinical trial cohort and receive cutting-edge brain-computer interface treatment.
Almost at the same time, the first brain-computer interface clinical research ward in South China was inaugurated at Zhujiang Hospital of Southern Medical University.
Incomplete statistics of the number of brain-computer interface clinical trials in China in recent years (data for 2025 is as of June 17th)
According to incomplete statistics, in recent years, the number of brain-computer interface-related clinical trials in China has shown an obvious upward trend. In particular, 31 brain-computer interface-related clinical trials were registered in 2024, almost three times the number in 2023. In 2025, the trend of rapid growth has continued. There have been 18 brain-computer interface clinical trials in less than half a year, and the number for the whole year is expected to exceed that of 2024, setting a new record over the years.
Accelerated supporting facilities, the pattern of competition between China and the United States is emerging
It's not just the clinical progress. In terms of payment and other aspects, China has also provided strong support recently.
In mid-March, the National Healthcare Security Administration issued the "Guide for Project Establishment of Medical Service Prices for the Nervous System (Trial)", which added price items such as "fee for implantation of an invasive brain-computer interface", "fee for removal of an invasive brain-computer interface", and "fee for adaptation of a non-invasive brain-computer interface".
The Hubei Healthcare Security Administration quickly responded to the "Guide for Project Establishment of Medical Service Prices for the Nervous System (Trial)" at the end of March and issued the first brain-computer interface medical service price in China, sending a clear signal of industry support.
In addition, the "Jointly Built Brain-Computer Interface Healthcare Data Research Center by Wuhan Healthcare Security Administration and Tongji Hospital" was inaugurated at Tongji Hospital Affiliated to Huazhong University of Science and Technology in June. As the first brain-computer interface healthcare data research center in China, it will undertake the task of exploring in-depth integration, analysis, and application of the massive, high-dimensional neural function and clinical data generated by brain-computer interface technology in clinical applications with healthcare data.
Countries with the most research papers in the field of medical applications of brain-computer interfaces from 2013 - 2022 (Source: National Library of Medicine, Zheshang Securities Research Institute)
In terms of academic research on brain-computer interfaces, according to incomplete statistics, the number of academic papers on medical applications of brain-computer interfaces in China ranks second in the world, only after the United States, and its research centrality also ranks second in the world, only after the United States. The two countries have gradually distanced themselves from other countries and regions in the world.
These progresses have also made the investment and financing in China's brain-computer interface field more active. According to data from Arterial Orange, there have been 7 financing events in China's brain-computer interface field in less than half a year in 2025, which is the same as the total number of financing events in 2024. There has even been a high - value financing of up to 350 million yuan. In February, Jieti Medical, a domestic brain-computer interface enterprise, completed a Series B financing of 350 million yuan, which is also the largest financing in the history of China's invasive brain-computer interface industry.
However, at least in terms of investment and financing, there is still a certain gap between China's brain-computer interface field and that of the United States. Not long ago, Neuralink has applied to raise $649 million in a new stock issuance, valuing it at over $9 billion. To date, Neuralink has raised more than $1 billion in total.
Currently, Neuralink has implanted a brain-computer interface in its third patient and has been approved to start a study on an N1 implant for controlling a robotic arm in the United States. It is also helping patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis regain their language ability. In terms of a single enterprise, it is leading the world in progress.
Precision Neuroscience, its main competitor, completed a Series C financing of $102 million at the end of last year. Its Layer 7 brain-computer interface uses a high-resolution cerebral cortex electrode array that was approved by the FDA in April and can be implanted in patients' brains as an implant for up to 30 days.
An enlarged demonstration version of the electrode array used in the Layer 7 brain-computer interface (Photo from the official website of Precision Neuroscience)
This electrode array consists of 1024 electrodes with a diameter of 50 - 380 microns. The array is only 1/5 the thickness of a human hair, and only a cut of less than 1mm needs to be made in the skull for the electrode array to be inserted and removed.
This is also the first system of its kind to receive regulatory approval, a major milestone in the field of brain-computer interfaces.
Another brain-computer interface enterprise, Synchron, known for its unique intravascular electrode array, has recently carried out frequent cross - industry cooperation. It not only cooperated with Apple last year to integrate brain-computer interface technology into Apple devices but also cooperated with NVIDIA this year to release a research and development roadmap for the cognitive AI model Chiral.
Looking around the world, the competition in the field of brain-computer interfaces is becoming increasingly fierce. With the rapid progress of China's brain-computer interface technology recently, the pattern of "competition for hegemony between China and the United States" in this field is emerging, but we still need to speed up.
Conclusion
As a cutting - edge technology highly concerned globally, the strategic significance of brain-computer interfaces is very obvious, and the global competition in this field is becoming increasingly fierce. With China's recent "Chinese - speed" breakthroughs in the corresponding field, the pattern of "competition for hegemony between China and the United States" in the field of brain-computer interfaces is initially taking shape.
Of course, there are still many changes and