Ant Group, an affiliate of Alibaba, has led a $73.58 million funding round in humanoid robotics startup Zeroth. This marks Ant's 12th investment in the sector since early 2025, signaling a significant push into robotics following regulatory hurdles with its IPO.
Humanoid robotics startup Agility Robotics will go public through a SPAC merger with Churchill Capital Corp XI, valuing the company at $2.5 billion and expected to generate over $620 million in proceeds. The funds will support production of its Digit v5 robot and customer expansion.
Apple supplier Lingyi iTech is seeking to raise up to HK$8.3 billion (US$1.1 billion) in a Hong Kong IPO to fund expansion into AI hardware and humanoid robotics. The Shenzhen-listed firm aims to debut on Friday, diversifying beyond the smartphone market to capture demand in emerging sectors.
Major cryptocurrencies saw a rebound, with BTC nearing $63k. Concerns about AI token spend are growing as companies like Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta cut back due to costs. Meanwhile, Tether led a $1.4B round for robotics firm NEURA, and Mastercard launched AI Agent payments with Coinbase and Ripple.
China's 'little giants' scheme identifies specialized SMEs for policy support. While over 17,600 exist, the designation signals policy alignment, not guaranteed commercial success or global competitiveness, differing from Germany's 'hidden champions'.
Nvidia introduced H2+ (Isaac GR00T), a new design aimed at streamlining humanoid robotics development, from data collection to real-world deployment. CEO Jensen Huang highlighted data as the primary challenge in agentic and physical AI systems during a keynote at Taipei's Computex conference.
Nvidia has chosen Chinese humanoid robot maker Unitree for its first robotics system aimed at researchers, integrating Unitree's H2 robot with Nvidia's Jetson Thor hardware and AI models. The system, designed for accessibility in higher education, aims to democratize frontier humanoid research.
GigaAI's S1 robot, an AI-powered household assistant, will be tested by families in Wuhan, China, starting in the first half of 2027. The robot can perform various domestic tasks and will undergo trials with employees in hi-tech industries before wider household testing.
GigaAI's S1 robot, utilizing embodied AI for autonomous task execution, to be trialed in Wuhan households by 2027, initially in hi-tech employee housing, targeting families with elderly, children, or pets.
Chinese smartphone component suppliers are transitioning their expertise to the burgeoning humanoid robotics sector as the mobile market decelerates. Honor, which entered robotics only last year, saw its Lightning robot break a human world record by over six minutes, partly due to smartphone cooling technology transfer that kept the motor cool after running 21km. Major suppliers including Lingyi iTech, Lens Technology and AAC Technologies supplied structural components for Honor's D1 robot, signaling a new growth curve for electronics manufacturers.
Chinese smartphone component suppliers are transitioning their expertise to the burgeoning humanoid robotics sector. Honor entered the market last year with its Lightning robot, which broke the human world record by over six minutes, partly due to smartphone cooling technology adapted for robotics. Major suppliers including Lingyi iTech, Lens Technology and AAC Technologies now supply structural components for Honor's D1 model.
Meta has acquired Assured Robot Intelligence, a startup building foundation models for humanoid robots to perform physical labor. The co-founders, former Nvidia researcher Xiaolong Wang and ex-NYU professor Lerrel Pinto, will join Meta's Superintelligence Labs. The acquisition supports Meta's ambitions to develop humanoid robotics and aligns with the belief among AI experts that training in the physical world may be key to achieving artificial general intelligence.
