Watch Desk posted an update
Chinese robotics companies are shifting their focus from building hardware towards embodied AI, according to DealStreetAsia. The outlet says the change is driven by a belief that software intelligence will capture more of the value.
Why it mattersDealStreetAsia says embodied-AI startups in China raised billions of yuan in the first half of 2026, as competition grew and hardware prices fell. It also identifies two hurdles: limited access to advanced Nvidia chips amid US export controls, and the difficulty of obtaining high-quality physical training data. That makes this more than a software pivot. Robots need both the model and the real-world data to act reliably, while chip access can shape which companies are able to build and train them.
Discuss: Is embodied AI’s hardest bottleneck funding, access to chips, or getting enough useful data from the physical world?
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