China races to develop brain-computer interfaces that can be inserted in 10 minutes

Chinese start-ups and researchers are racing to develop brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) that can be implanted within minutes, as Beijing aims to cultivate domestic players to compete with Elon Musk's Neuralink. Unlike traditional BCIs requiring brain surgery, these new devices can be inserted via a vein, such as a stent. StairMed Technology, a Shanghai-based firm, has developed a minimally invasive method of delivering the device through blood vessels in the neck, guiding it directly into the brain.

The company has raised over $163 million in funding to advance its research, with investors including Tencent Holdings and Alibaba Group Holding, the parent company of the South China Morning Post.

StairMed unveiled its program last December, in collaboration with a research team at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, to insert BCIs through a blood vessel into a specific brain region and anchor them outside the vessel wall. While testing has been conducted on sheep, human trials are yet to begin. The global BCI implant device market is projected to reach $80 billion in the U.S. alone by 2035, according to a Morgan Stanley report. China aims to nurture two to three global leaders in the sector by 2030.

BCI pioneer Neuralink currently requires opening the skull to implant the device into the cortex. However, implanting the device via a vein would facilitate quicker procedures and reduce the life-threatening risks associated with invasive brain surgery. Duan Wanru, chief physician at Xuanwu Hospital under Beijing’s Capital Medical University, stated that a surgeon with four to five years of experience can position the device in 10 minutes using this approach.

The hospital is also exploring a vascular technique involving placing the BCI device in the brain's venous sinuses, having initiated its first human clinical study. Duan assured that there have been no significant safety concerns thus far, with the implant removable within a month of the operation.

Nankai University completed China's first human trial of a BCI implanted via blood vessels last year. China is not the only country pursuing vein-inserted BCIs; in 2023, Synchron implanted BCIs on 10 patients via their jugular veins in Australia and the U.S., as reported by IEEE Spectrum. With the brain-computer interface implanted, paraplegic patients—primarily quadriplegics who have lost all movement below the neck—can now control digital technology using their thoughts alone, approaching a life more akin to that of able-bodied individuals.