Robotics

China's embodied-AI funding hit RMB 93.5 billion across 322 deals in H1, about 5x a year earlier

Source: AsiaOne; Mon, Nov 2, 2026

Generated graphic, not a news photo

This is a short summary, not a reprint. Read the original for details.

According to ITjuzi data, money is increasingly going to specialist developers of the robot "brain" rather than only to whole-robot makers.

Read original ↗Source: AsiaOne · Opens the source in a new tab

ABB said on 5 November that China's foreign-investment security review office prohibited SoftBank's acquisition of its robotics business, signed at an enterprise value of about US$5.375 billion. Reports cite concern about data leaving China. It is the second publicly known AI-related foreign deal Beijing has blocked this year, after Meta's Manus purchase of over US$2 billion. ABB says talks continue.

RoboticsHotUS$5.4B deal (blocked)SCMP11-05

China's embodied-AI funding hit RMB 93.5 billion across 322 deals in H1, about 5x a year earlier

Related stories

UBTech signs a strategic deal with luxury auto dealer Yongda to supply bionic humanoid robots

Web Summit Lisbon: Chinese robots and low-cost AI models on show

Service-robot maker Youliqi raises RMB 500 million in Pre-A

China blocks SoftBank's US$5.4 billion takeover of ABB's robotics business