Lei Jun invests in robots again.

After "Mobile + Automobile + AIoT", robots are the next ecological entry point that Xiaomi must secure. The precision reducer market presents a competitive landscape where "foreign companies dominate the high - end segment, while domestic products are accelerating the substitution in the mid - and low - end segments."

While manufacturers of humanoid robot complete machines are favored by capital, R & D companies of core components have also attracted bets from industry giants.

Recently, Guohua (Qingdao) Intelligent Equipment Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Guohua Intelligent) underwent industrial and commercial changes. Beijing Xiaomi Smart Manufacturing Equity Investment Fund Partnership (Limited Partnership) was added as a shareholder. Meanwhile, the registered capital increased from approximately 9.3522 million RMB to about 10.4745 million RMB.

Public information shows that Guohua Intelligent was established in February 2021, with Wang Guang as the legal representative. It is a high - tech enterprise focusing on both the R & D of core components for robots in the upstream of the intelligent manufacturing industry and the system integration in the downstream of the intelligent manufacturing industry. It is committed to developing high - precision, high - torque, low - temperature - rise, and low - noise high - precision robot joint harmonic reducers, aiming to achieve the localization of high - end harmonic reducer products.

Shareholder information shows that the company is currently jointly held by Wang Guang, Qilu Qianhai (Qingdao) Venture Capital Fund Partnership (Limited Partnership), Jinyang Co., Ltd., and the aforementioned new shareholder.

Xiaomi Smart Manufacturing Fund Takes a Stake

Since its establishment, Guohua Intelligent has gone through six rounds of financing, with investors including Qianhai Mother Fund and Jinyang Co., Ltd.

According to the data from Cailian Press Venture Capital Connect - Zhizhong, in July 2023, after Xiaomi Smart Manufacturing Fund expanded its LP camp, the fund size reached 10 billion RMB, and Lei Jun personally served as the chairman of the new fund's investment committee. As of now, the fund has made 61 investment moves, covering areas such as automotive electronics, battery materials, and precision manufacturing.

In recent years, Xiaomi Smart Manufacturing Fund has made extensive arrangements in the robot field, covering multiple links in the industrial chain. Centered around the dual main lines of "intelligent manufacturing + embodied intelligence", it has currently disclosed multiple investment projects, mainly focusing on sensors, precision transmissions, core components, and system solutions.

In the sensor field, Xiaomi Smart Manufacturing Fund participated in the Series B financing of Kunwei Technology in May this year. Kunwei Technology specializes in six - dimensional force sensors, and its annual calibration capacity of production has doubled from 15,000 units per year to 30,000 units per year, providing the core force - control components for Xiaomi's humanoid robot CyberOne.

In the field of industrial robot enterprises, in 2023, it invested 150 million RMB to take a stake in Standrobot, which is a provider of industrial intelligent robot solutions suitable for various industrial scenarios, mainly including the core robot technology platform, industrial intelligent robot products, and the RoboVerse system. It has also invested in Xiaoyu Smart Manufacturing, which masters the "one - brain - multiple - forms" embodied intelligence system and has received orders for 100 welding robots from heavy industry enterprises, promising to empower the flexible manufacturing scenarios of Xiaomi's automobile factory.

In addition, Xiaomi Smart Manufacturing Fund also made strategic arrangements in the relevant industrial chain through strategic placement. It made a strategic placement in Jinyang Co., Ltd. during its IPO, holding a 2.51% stake. Since Jinyang Co., Ltd. holds a stake in Guohua Intelligent, Xiaomi can indirectly integrate supply - chain resources through this.

Regarding why Xiaomi is vigorously deploying in the robot industrial chain, an investor in the field of embodied intelligence told a reporter from the Venture Capital Daily, After "Mobile + Automobile + AIoT", robots are the next ecological entry point that Xiaomi must secure. The period from 2025 to 2027 is regarded by the industry as the "Year of Mass - Production of Humanoid Robots", and Xiaomi must take a position in advance.

In terms of the ecological closed - loop, Lei Jun proposed the "human - vehicle - home" full - scenario strategy. Robots are the only "super terminal" that can connect the three major terminals of mobile phones, automobiles, and smart homes. Once the bodies of CyberOne, CyberDog, etc. mature, they can be quickly replicated to a large number of ecological chain products, just like the Mi Plug back then.

"Xiaomi replicates the 'cost - performance + ecological chain' strategy from the mobile phone field to the robot track. First, it uses self - developed bodies as benchmarks, then uses investment and orders to drive down the prices of core components, and finally spreads the R & D costs through Mi - level shipments, forming a price barrier that others cannot follow," the investor summarized.

Accelerated Domestic Substitution in the Precision Reducer Market

Wang Guang, the founder of Guohua Intelligent, entered Beijing University of Technology for postgraduate studies in 2014, focusing on the field of harmonic reducers.

In 2021, he officially founded Guohua (Qingdao) Intelligent Equipment Co., Ltd. and settled in Qingdao, completing the construction of the first high - end production line.

Guohua Intelligent focuses on precision harmonic reducers, transmissions, and servo drive - control systems. It is understood that it has overcome two key technologies: surface modification of harmonic reducer flexspline and conjugate meshing coordinated optimization design, providing solutions to the "bottleneck" problem of joint modules.

Precision reducers, servo motors, and controllers are known as the three core components of robots. Among them, the reducer is one of the components with the highest R & D difficulty and the highest cost proportion, accounting for about 35% of the total cost of the robot.

Precision reducers mainly include harmonic, RV, and precision planetary reducers. Among them, harmonic reducers are small in size and are mainly used at the end positions of actuators such as wrists, hands, and forearms, enabling robots to simulate human movements more accurately and flexibly.

Domestic humanoid robot bodies such as Zhiyuan Yuanzheng A1, Unitree G1, and Ubtech WalkerX also use precision planetary or harmonic reducers in their designs.

Currently, core domestic companies deeply involved in the concept of humanoid robots + reducers include Haozhi Electromechanical Co., Ltd., Wuzhou Xinchun Co., Ltd., Green Harmonic Co., Ltd., and Zhongda Lide Co., Ltd.

The aforementioned investor told a reporter from the Venture Capital Daily that in recent years, with the continuous growth of market demand in downstream industries such as industrial robots, semiconductor equipment, and machine tools, the precision reducer market presents a competitive landscape where "foreign companies dominate the high - end segment, while domestic products are accelerating the substitution in the mid - and low - end segments." In 2024, the sales volume of domestic enterprises in the Chinese market accounted for more than half, and the revenue accounted for 57%. Currently, domestic reducers are mostly used in simple handling and loading - unloading scenarios in industrial robots, with relatively low unit prices.

Special Statement: The content of this article is for reference only and does not constitute investment advice. Investors shall bear the risks associated with their operations based on this information.

This article is from the WeChat public account "Venture Capital Daily", written by Li Mingming, and published by 36Kr with authorization.