China’s Neurotechnology Breakthrough: Market Overview and Key Players

ED Group has prepared an overview of China’s neurotechnology market, covering its size and structure, technology value chain, key players, growth drivers, and investment dynamics.

Key takeaway: the industry is rapidly moving from laboratory research toward industrial and clinical commercialization.

Neurotechnology is becoming established in China as an “industry of the future”: the combined size of its key segments is expected to grow from RMB 9.5 billion in 2025 to RMB 36.5 billion by 2030. The fastest-growing segment is brain-computer interfaces (BCIs): according to CAICT estimates, the market will expand from RMB 3 billion in 2025 to RMB 12 billion by 2030 (32% CAGR). Adjacent segments are also growing, including neuromorphic chips (RMB 5 → 20 billion), neuromodulation (RMB 1 → 2–3 billion), and transcranial magnetic stimulation
(RMB 0.5 → 2 billion). This momentum is underpinned by China’s scientific base: the country accounts for 33% of global BCI patents (15,473 out of 47,000 patent families).

Sources: ED analysis, CAICT, QiChaCha, People’s Daily

A Complete Technology Value Chain — From Signals to Computing
China is not betting on a single technology. Instead, it is building a five-link value chain spanning brain-signal acquisition, signal decoding and brain mapping, stimulation, control of application devices, and a domestic hardware and computing base, including flexible electrodes, biocompatible materials, and neuromorphic chips.

This approach is already producing early commercial results in non-invasive and rehabilitation solutions, while implantable technologies continue to undergo a lengthy clinical and regulatory process.

Growth Drivers

The market is accelerating due to a combination of factors. In 2025, seven Chinese government agencies issued a policy document on the development of the BCI industry, with the goal of creating 2–3 companies with global influence by 2030, while regional plans — particularly in Shanghai — are turning major cities into industrial hubs.

Demand is being driven by healthcare applications, including treatment of stroke, Parkinson’s disease, and epilepsy. By the end of 2025, the BCI assessment unit at Beijing Tiantan Hospital alone had received more than 1,600 patients.

Crucially, the government is establishing a payment mechanism in advance: in March 2025, separate reimbursement tariffs for BCI procedures were introduced under the basic medical insurance system. The broader framework is reinforced by a medical-engineering model and a focus on localizing critical components.

Key Player Landscape

2025 marked a shift from laboratory-stage bets to large funding rounds.
Following the early-stage period of 2020–2022 and a decline in 2023–2024, disclosed investment increased from USD 31 million in 2024 to USD 244 million in 2025, with 24 major deals recorded between January and November.

Capital is flowing into companies with clear clinical and manufacturing pathways. The largest transaction was a RMB 2.0 billion growth round for BrainCo, followed by Neural Galaxy, StairMed, Zhiran Medical, and Leadinno Medical, which raised between RMB 200 million and RMB 500 million, with participation from Qiming, OrbiMed, Lilly Asia Ventures, IDG, and others.
The capital structure is becoming more diversified: specialized venture capital funds are being joined by corporate, government-backed, insurance, and regional investors, helping reduce the risks between prototype development and market entry.

Sources: ED analysis, IT桔子

Conclusions

China is building not individual products, but a complete neurotechnology value chain supported by its own component and computing base, while aligning national strategy, clinical demand, and payment mechanisms.

This creates the conditions for the emergence of 2–3 globally significant players by 2030 and makes China one of the most promising neurotechnology markets for monitoring, scouting, and partnerships.