The Belt

A Chinese Robot-Chip Startup Raised RMB 2.5 Billion This Year Alone

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Huixi Intelligence has closed its Pre-B+ and B funding rounds, taking cumulative equity funding in 2026 past RMB 2.5 billion, according to Gasgoo’s embodied intelligence desk. The rounds drew support from national and local industry funds, strategic industrial capital and market-based investment institutions. Huixi Intelligence’s compute platform targets embodied AI workloads. Source: Gasgoo The proceeds … Read more

ABB’s China Chief Names the Only Factory Job Physical AI Does Well

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Industrial production is moving towards physical AI, and the 26th China International Industry Fair, which opened at the National Exhibition and Convention Centre in Shanghai on 12 October, made the shift visible. The pairing of factory and physical AI has become the focal point of industrial deployment. ABB robots at the China International Industry Fair … Read more

Six Rounds in Nineteen Months: Hefei’s Zero-Form Bets on B-End Humanoids

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Zero-Form Robotics closed a Series A on 29 September, its sixth round in nineteen months. Investors included Wuxi Guolian Xizhou Fund, Tsingke Industry Investment, Cowin Capital and Hefei Industry Investment. The company was registered in January 2025 in Baohe district, Hefei, and its founding team came out of Tsinghua’s AI and robotics laboratory. Zero-Form’s ZERITH … Read more

Shenzhen’s State-Backed Toolmaker Steps Back Into the Light

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SiCarrier, the Shenzhen state-controlled semiconductor equipment maker that the Chinese press once labelled the DeepSeek of the sector, confirmed on 9 October that it will exhibit at the Bay Area Semiconductor Industry Ecosystem Expo opening in Shenzhen on 14 October. It is the company’s first appearance at a major trade show in nearly a year. … Read more

Tesla Wants to Print Optimus a Skin

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On 8 October the US Patent and Trademark Office published a Tesla application numbered US 2026/0310299 A1, titled Three-dimensional flexible tactile sensor array with multimodal sensing and scalable manufacturing methods. The applicant address is Austin. The inventor list runs past a dozen names. The first Optimus patent filing in four months. The filing describes conductive … Read more

An Inspection-Robot Maker Just Became a GPU Landlord

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Shenhao Technology built its business selling inspection robots to power grid operators. This month its subsidiary was named second winner on a central state-owned enterprise’s intelligent compute cluster tender, and the contract is worth more than the company’s entire annual revenue. Two orders in a matter of days total close to RMB 670 million, against … Read more