America’s leadership in the cutting-edge field of brain technology is being challenged as Chinese startups rise with the support of a full-throttle policy drive. For years, US companies like Elon Musk’s Neuralink Corp. have led the industry with state-of-the-art procedures implanting chips into patients’ brains. A wave of clinical trials by Chinese startups this year is shifting that narrative. A May video by Shanghai StairMed Technology Co. showed a paraplegic patient playing a computer game using only his thoughts, enabled by a coin-shaped implant comparable to the one used in Neuralink surgeries. Once seen as a niche and futuristic concept, brain-computer interface technology has emerged as a new front in the high-stakes rivalry between the US and China. While current trials focus on helping the disabled regain essential functions, industry experts envision a broader use beyond medical purposes if, and when, the technology becomes commercially viable.

Full in-depth : China’s brain-computer interface industry as startups like BrainCo grow with state support; CCID says the sector is worth ~$450 million, growing 20% annually.