Funding surge powers Chinese robotics firms as focus shifts to humanoid ‘brains’

Chinese robotics firms continue to secure fresh financing, including from state-backed funds, as investors shift focus from hardware to the “brains” of humanoids – the software and operating systems that underpin their intelligence.Alongside hardware-centric companies like Unitree Robotics, a new wave of firms is emerging with capital directed towards robotic software and operating systems.Shenzhen-based humanoid robot maker LimX Dynamics announced on Monday the completion of its US$200 million series B round. The company last month unveiled LimX Cosa, an operating system for embodied artificial intelligence agents.Physical AI start-up Orca also said on Monday it had completed pre-A and pre-A+ funding rounds. It said its eponymous system was benchmarked against Nvidia’s Omniverse, a platform for virtual worlds that allows developers to build physically accurate simulation environments for training embodied robots.X Square Robot, founded in 2023, completed a 1 billion yuan (US$144 million) A++ round last month. The Shenzhen-based company focuses on developing foundation models for robotics. ByteDance was among the investors, joining previous backers Meituan and Alibaba Group Holding. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.Three humanoid robots sit at Unitree’s first retail store in Beijing on January 9, 2026. Photo: AFPThe trend showed Big Tech firms were now focusing on training the “brains” of embodied AI, the National Business Daily reported, citing economist Pan Helin.