AI² Robotics raises $735M, valuation tops $2.8B on wheeled humanoid push

AI² Robotics' $735 million（約1200億円） funding round reflects a broader wave of capital flowing into China's humanoid robotics sector. The diverse investor base—spanning government funds like the National Small and Medium Enterprises Development Fund, established industrial players such as Moutai Group and Sino Biopharmaceutical, and financial institutions—underscores how physical AI has moved from fringe technology to strategic national and corporate priority. The company's choice to pursue wheeled locomotion rather than bipedal systems is a deliberate trade-off: it sacrifices terrain versatility for manufacturing simplicity, cost reduction, and regulatory accessibility—a pragmatic positioning for near-term commercial deployment.

AI² Robotics is notably avoiding the consumer robotics hype cycle, instead concentrating on structured environments where the wheeled-manipulator form factor excels: factories, warehouses, and biotech labs. This focus, paired with the proprietary Alpha Brain vision-language-action model, positions the firm to capture value in logistics and manufacturing before attempting consumer markets. The funding announcement follows recent activity across the global humanoid market, including the pending Agility IPO and acquisitions such as Bear Robotics' purchase of Kinisi Robotics, signaling that investors see hardware-plus-software robotics as a maturing investment category rather than a speculative frontier.