Beyond the Hype: Investment Opportunities in Physical AI
These four clips are drawn from Dr. Min Zhou’s keynote at Innovation China Conference Spring 2026, held in Shanghai on 14 May under the theme of Edge AI and Embodied AI. The CM Venture Capital Co-founder and CEO examines where physical AI is already delivering industrial value, where expectations run ahead of reality, and where the firm sees investment opportunities.
1 Humanoids are harder than cars
A self-driving car tries to avoid touching the physical world, and it has one defined task: get from A to B. A humanoid has to sense and interact with the world and work out what its owner intends. That is why home humanoids may come from the brands that already understand intention best: phone makers.
2 Humanoids at the peak of the hype
In China, humanoids are at the peak of inflated expectations, with more than 200 companies and new funding rounds almost every day. Before forming a view, CM’s team spent six months mapping the sector and visiting robot and data-collection companies.
3 Two investment narratives: the US and China
US capital is flowing into robotics foundation models, sensors and compute, and physical AI already makes money there in robotaxis and e-commerce. In China, money is going into humanoids and robot brains, with revenue coming from components and from applications in education, entertainment, government and manufacturing.
4 Where CM invests in physical AI
CM’s portfolio companies already put physical AI to work: Echiev in autonomous driving for factories and industrial sites, and Boea Wisdom in surgical automation. In the near term, CM focuses on robot brains, tactile sensors and vision; in the mid to long term, on operating systems for robot fleets.
Watch more talks from CM Venture Capital on our YouTube channel.