China Sets Policy, Insurance Pays, SOEs Enter: Brain-Computer Interface Accelerates

In the first half of 2026, China's brain-computer interface industry entered a critical phase, moving from top-level design toward institutional implementation and industrial acceleration. In March, BCI was written into the government work report for the first time, listed alongside future energy, quantum technology, embodied intelligence and 6G as a future industry cultivation direction. The 15th Five-Year Plan outline also included it among six future industries for forward-looking layout.

From May to June, relevant national departments advanced supporting policies and implementation rules, clarifying pathways for standards, medical insurance pricing and product registration. Special policies were also introduced in Tianjin, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong, Anhui and other regions, creating a central-local coordination framework.

Meanwhile, central state-owned enterprises such as China Electronics, General Technology Group and CNNC shifted from observation to substantive participation. The driving force is no longer limited to laboratories and startups; it now extends to state-backed integration, deployment scenarios and supply chain development.

The core change is that BCI has been elevated to a national future industry strategy, with policy focus moving from encouraging innovation to opening institutional channels. Local policies and central SOE resources together are pushing the industry from technology-driven exploration toward a dual engine of institutions and capital.

The push began in July 2025, when seven departments including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the National Development and Reform Commission issued the Implementation Opinions on Promoting Innovative Development of the Brain-Computer Interface Industry. It was the first national top-level design document in the field, setting goals: by 2027, electrode, chip and complete-device performance should reach internationally advanced levels, with two to three industrial clusters; by 2030, two to three globally influential leading companies should be cultivated.

However, institutional channels were not fully open. Industry surveys showed that by the end of 2025 the sector still faced three structural contradictions: technology without standards, products without payment, and pilots without scale.

The first half of 2026 became a turning point. Strategic positioning was elevated as BCI was written into the government work report and the 15th Five-Year Plan outline. The regulatory framework also improved. In June, the National Medical Products Administration issued classification and naming guidelines for BCI medical devices, clarifying for the first time that products intended to improve, repair or replace central nervous system functions for medical purposes should be regulated as medical devices. This ended the previous situation where product registration had no clear category.

Medical insurance payment channels were built in parallel. In March 2025, the National Healthcare Security Administration set price items including invasive BCI implantation fees and non-invasive BCI adaptation fees. In 2026, Zhejiang took the lead in including non-invasive adaptation fees in medical insurance under Category B management; Beijing included related services in a Category A reimbursement exploration.

State-owned capital entered, with central SOEs shifting from early lab co-building to industrial chain integrators. In March 2026, SASAC identified BCI as a direction for strengthened central SOE cultivation and released ten basic science questions in the biological field, two directly involving BCI. In May, China Electronics' CETC Cloud Brain worked with Tianjin University's Haihe Brain-Computer Interface Lab to develop the domestically first fully independent intellectual property neural electrophysiological signal acquisition chips, the Nao Yuzhe C and D series. General Technology Group's China Meheco signed cooperation agreements with the Haihe Lab and Tianjin BCI Industry Group; the Nuclear Industry General Hospital under CNNC signed a BCI innovation consortium agreement.

Local state capital acted more directly. In April 2026, Tianjin BCI Industry Group, jointly funded by Tianjin TEDA Holdings and others, was established with registered capital of 1 billion yuan. Shanghai Future Industry Fund, managed by Shanghai International Group, focused on invasive BCI companies such as NeuroXess. Data from IT Juzi showed that by June 30, 2026, 64 investment and financing cases had occurred in the BCI field during the year, totaling 7.253 billion yuan, far exceeding full-year 2025 performance.