The Spring Festival Gala of the Year of the Horse has reached a new high in terms of "AI content": Robots made a group appearance, and AI hard technology replaced the Internet to take the center stage.

Less than a month remains before the Lunar Year of the Horse arrives. As a "new New Year custom" for global Chinese to stay up late on New Year's Eve, the Spring Festival Gala of the Year of the Horse by China Media Group is in its final and intense preparation stage.

In recent years, the Spring Festival Gala by China Media Group has placed more emphasis on a sense of technology. In the current era when new technologies and products such as AI and robots are surging, China's most popular stage every year naturally becomes the most popular showcase.

The upcoming Spring Festival Gala of the Year of the Horse features "technology empowerment" and fully integrates "technological innovation" into stage design, content creation, etc. Taking stage design as an example, the Spring Festival Gala of the Year of the Horse will flexibly use technological means such as AI, AR, and XR to create an immersive and three - dimensional visual effect of "people in the scenery, scenery following people" between the real and the virtual. After the intelligent robots doing the yangge dance at the Spring Festival Gala of the Year of the Snake became a "top hit", robots will take to the Spring Festival Gala stage again, demonstrating the new atmosphere of China's technological progress with the creative spark of a technological style and a sense of freshness.

Image source: CCTV News

Meanwhile, the Spring Festival Gala by China Media Group (formerly known as the CCTV Spring Festival Gala) can directly reflect the upgrading of China's economic and industrial structure, the switching of consumption hotspots, and the focus of social attention due to its sponsors, program content, and relevant topics. Therefore, it is regarded as a "barometer" of China's economy.

The list of sponsors for the Spring Festival Gala of the Year of the Horse is being announced gradually. Compared with the previous shows of Internet and technology giants, the announced list of sponsors for the Spring Festival Gala of the Year of the Horse reveals a new signal, that is, AI application and hardware enterprises are becoming the "new favorites" of this big stage, which further demonstrates a profound change taking place.

The 43 - year journey of the Spring Festival Gala: the making of a top - tech showcase

In 1983, the first CCTV Spring Festival Gala took place. Through the live - broadcast pictures on black - and - white televisions, Chinese families felt the tangible festive atmosphere of "sharing the same moment across the world" on New Year's Eve for the first time. It is worth mentioning that the first CCTV Spring Festival Gala provided an interactive form of allowing audiences to request programs via phone calls.

The live - broadcast form, the nature of a variety show, and the sense of public participation, the basic operating model of the Spring Festival Gala that has been carried on to this day, was established in the first one. After a good start, the development of the Spring Festival Gala entered the fast lane, and technological innovation and business progress became the two main lines throughout.

In terms of technological innovation, the Spring Festival Galas held on subsequent New Year's Eves have continuously upgraded the stage technology, stage design effects, live - broadcast technology, and picture effects. The TV equipment on the audience side has also been continuously upgraded from black - and - white TVs to color TVs, from color TVs to large - screen TVs, and from large - screen TVs to smart terminals.

More importantly, since the new century, in addition to watching the Spring Festival Gala on TV, computers, mobile phones, tablets, and other devices have also become media for watching the live - broadcast of the Spring Festival Gala, which fundamentally guarantees the scale of the Spring Festival Gala audience. New interactive forms such as "watching the Spring Festival Gala on TV and grabbing red envelopes on mobile phones" not only extend the public's sense of participation with technology but also innovatively connect the interaction between large and small screens, making it possible for users to use their mobile phones without conflicting with watching the Spring Festival Gala.

Correspondingly, technology enterprises have become the largest group of sponsors for the Spring Festival Gala, and enterprises of different types have taken the stage at different times.

In the 1980s and 1990s, the main sponsors of the CCTV Spring Festival Gala were concentrated in the light industry and fast - moving consumer goods industries, such as watches, bicycles, and liquor. In the new century, giant enterprises in the home appliance industry represented by Midea began to take over. In the 2010s, with the rise of the mobile Internet wave, Internet giants that enjoyed huge growth dividends in the industry gradually became the biggest sponsors of the Spring Festival Gala and frequently appeared for brand marketing. In ten years, numerous Internet enterprises have taken the stage, and there have been two obvious campaigns:

The first campaign (from 2015 to 2017): The competition between WeChat Pay and Alipay accelerated the popularization of mobile payment in China.

The second campaign (from 2020 to 2021): The competition between Kuaishou and Douyin ended with Douyin's great victory.

Besides Internet enterprises, new - energy vehicle enterprises have also been engaged in "stealth battles" on the Spring Festival Gala stage in recent years. Different brands of vehicle enterprises compete in the stage background boards, hosts' oral announcements, and multiple embedded programs.

Image source: CCTV.com

In 2025 and 2026, the third and fourth obvious campaigns are taking place simultaneously in the fields of AI cloud and robots.

In 2025, Alibaba Cloud, as a representative of AI cloud enterprises, provided technical support for the Spring Festival Gala, and Unitree, as a representative of humanoid robot enterprises, performed at the Spring Festival Gala. In 2026, Volcengine under ByteDance became the new AI cloud partner of the Spring Festival Gala, and it is reported that about five robot (embodied intelligence) enterprises will jointly take the Spring Festival Gala stage.

Meanwhile, intelligent cleaning robot enterprises such as Dreame and MOVA have also confirmed their participation in the Spring Festival Gala of the Year of the Horse as sponsors.

Undoubtedly, the upcoming Spring Festival Gala will be the one with the highest content of "AI technology (especially AI hard technology)" in history.

The partner enterprises that have been confirmed for the Spring Festival Gala of the Year of the Horse are all from the fields of AI technology and robots. The specific brands are as follows:

Volcengine (under ByteDance): Exclusive AI cloud partner;

Dreame: Strategic partner for the intelligent technology ecosystem;

MOVA: Strategic partner for consumer electronics;

Shouqu: Strategic partner for intelligent travel;

Magic Atom: Strategic partner for intelligent robots.

The competition among humanoid robot brands may be the biggest highlight of the Spring Festival Gala of the Year of the Horse

It is worth noting that Magic Atom has become the first officially announced sponsor in the robot field for the Spring Festival Gala of the Year of the Horse. According to previous news, no robot enterprise has obtained the exclusive sponsorship right for the Spring Festival Gala of the Year of the Horse. "About five embodied intelligence companies will perform at the Spring Festival Gala together, and each will invest about 100 million yuan." Robot enterprises that "have shown great interest" in the Spring Festival Gala stage of the Year of the Horse include Unitree, Zhipu, Galaxy Universal, Songyan Power, and DeepRobotics.

Shot on - site by Lei Technology at CES 2026

Currently, with the early official announcement of Magic Atom, it is very likely that a group performance of multi - brand humanoid robots will be staged at the Spring Festival Gala of the Year of the Horse. The form of group participation is undoubtedly a better way to present the current development situation of the Chinese humanoid robot industry. There are also rumors that robots will participate in more than one program at the Spring Festival Gala of the Year of the Horse.

One flower does not make a spring; a hundred flowers in bloom bring spring to the garden. As the reporting team of Lei Technology saw in Las Vegas, after Chinese humanoid robots made a group appearance at CES 2026, they triggered a warm response in the North American market and on the global stage.

Shot on - site by Lei Technology at CES 2026

Since the robot yangge dance at the 2025 Spring Festival Gala attracted nationwide attention, robots (especially humanoid robots) have not only become an annual hot word in the technology circle but also triggered an arms race across the industry after attracting a large amount of capital. Correspondingly, important robot components such as dexterous hands and robotic arms and their technological applications have also become popular scenario - based tracks.

With more humanoid robot enterprises taking the stage at the Spring Festival Gala of the Year of the Horse, more intense brand competition will be triggered in the Chinese robot and embodied intelligence industry in 2026.

Breaking into the mass market, the intelligent cleaning category may be the biggest winner of the Spring Festival Gala of the Year of the Horse

Besides robot enterprises, two emerging brands in the intelligent cleaning track, Dreame and MOVA, and an emerging brand in the intelligent travel track, Shouqu. These three partners in the two new technology tracks undoubtedly reflect the biggest novelty of the Spring Festival Gala of the Year of the Horse - it doesn't matter where the heroes come from, only the market development prospects matter.

As the reporting team of Lei Technology observed in Las Vegas, Chinese technology echelon brands represented by the intelligent cleaning category have also taken the center stage at CES 2026. As a continuation of CES 2026, Dreame and MOVA will take the Spring Festival Gala stage of the Year of the Horse as representatives of the intelligent cleaning track.

Shot on - site by Lei Technology at CES 2026

Intelligent cleaning, intelligent glasses, and intelligent imaging have become the three new popular technology hardware categories with the fastest growth. Among them, the intelligent cleaning category combines AI technology and robot scenario applications, and the market competition is the most intense. Judging from the domestic market penetration rate (data from 2024), the penetration rate of the leading sweeping robot products in the intelligent cleaning camp is only 5.5%, indicating huge market growth potential.

For the intelligent cleaning category and related brands, they urgently need a top - notch showcase like the Spring Festival Gala that targets "hundreds of millions of family users" to support, endorse, and promote them. From well - known home appliance brands like Midea to emerging intelligent cleaning brands like Dreame and MOVA, as the Spring Festival Gala cooperates with more trendy categories and enterprises in the technology home appliance field, the promotion rhythm of relevant categories and the market is also advancing. The current Spring Festival Gala stage has become a vane for the Chinese technology industry.

Image source: MOVA

Specifically for these two brands, Dreame is the strategic partner for the intelligent technology ecosystem of the Spring Festival Gala of the Year of the Horse. Therefore, it is not only a representative in the intelligent cleaning field but also covers a full - scenario intelligent life product ecosystem including intelligent travel, intelligent home appliances, intelligent kitchen appliances, intelligent audio - visual products, and outdoor life. MOVA is the strategic partner for consumer electronics of the Spring Festival Gala of the Year of the Horse, so it will cover a whole - house smart home ecosystem including cleaning, courtyard, personal care, and pet - related sectors.

Intelligent travel robots, the biggest surprise of the Spring Festival Gala of the Year of the Horse

Besides Dreame and MOVA, Shouqu becoming a strategic partner of the Spring Festival Gala of the Year of the Horse has attracted external attention to the intelligent travel field.

In fact, both the intelligent cleaning and intelligent travel fields are actively embracing the application of AI and robot technologies. The intelligent travel robots launched by Shouqu have the same environmental perception, autonomous decision - making, and precise execution capabilities as intelligent cleaning robots.

Specifically in terms of product details, Shouqu has brought a complete set of technological combinations to upgrade two - wheeled electric vehicles into intelligent travel robots, including the Skymotor central intelligent brain, SkyKey 1.0 AI self - learning sensorless unlocking, and the Zero - threshold OS global operating system.

Image source: Shouqu

More remarkably, as an enterprise established in 2025, Shouqu has achieved a full - link layout from technology R & D, intelligent manufacturing, channel construction to brand potential accumulation in a very short time:

From signing an agreement with Tsinghua University to jointly build a cutting - edge technology laboratory to tackle next - generation travel technologies such as low wind resistance and self - balance; to successively announcing cooperation with two global top - tier e - sports IPs, "Fearless Tour" and "League of Legends", targeting the young user group; from