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Chinese internet giants JD.com, Meituan, Alibaba and Tencent are intensifying efforts to fund projects that advance embodied intelligence systems, allowing AI to physically engage with the world. Instead of chasing flashy demos, these giants are wiring embodied artificial intelligence (AI) directly into their balance sheets—slashing last-mile logistics costs, enabling 24-hour unmanned pharmacies, and re-engineering retail services.

E-commerce giant JD.com on Monday announced that it has invested in three robotics startups, Spirit AI, LimX Dynamics, and Engine AI, to strengthen its capabilities in embodied AI. In July, Meituan revealed investments in X Square Robot and Galaxea AI, two emerging players in the field of embodied intelligence. The two companies have also collaborated on projects such as unmanned pharmacies.

Alibaba and Tencent have also participated in the financing of companies including Hangzhou-based Unitree Robotics, while Ant Group also established an embodied AI subsidiary, according to a report by news website Eastmoney.com on Monday.

The moves come as the focus of competition in the global technology landscape has now shifted from large language models (LLMs) to embodied AI, a domain where global tech giants such as Tesla, Google's parent company Alphabet, Amazon, and Microsoft have also placed their bets, aiming to seize strategic advantage in next-gen general AI through a tightly integrated combination of software and hardware.

Industry experts said that as major tech companies are orchestrating a three-pronged strategy—investment, in-house R&D, and ecosystem partnerships—to integrate embodied AI into their core operations, the underlying logic is straightforward: leverage their own high-frequency scenes—logistics fleets, delivery networks, cloud commerce and local services—to secure a leading position in the next tech frontier.

According to data from marketing research company IT Juzi, in the first five months of 2025, 114 investment deals were recorded in the field of embodied intelligence, totaling 23.2 billion yuan ($3.23 billion) in financing, both exceeding the totals for the whole of 2024, Chinese business and financial media outlet Yicai reported.

Insiders noted that the entry of these cash-rich giants is expected to compress iteration cycles of embodied AI, accelerate scenario-specific fine-tuning, and turn embodied AI into a scalable productivity engine across logistics, retail, and public services.

Robot army

"Following the boom in LLMs, embodied AI is the next must-win battlefield," said Wang He, founder and CTO of Beijing Galbot Co, the Beijing News reported.

Wang argues that embodied AI is a crucial field driving manufacturing, production services, and creates new quality productive forces. "The most exciting era for humanoid robots, the era of productivity, is about to begin," he said.

JD.com's interest in embodied AI aligns closely with its e-commerce and logistics operations, but its ambitions extend beyond external investments, according to the information the company shared with the Global Times. JD.com has so far invested over 1 billion yuan into R&D for home service robots. The first product focuses on cleaning and accompanying functions and is expected to be mass-produced in 2026, said the company.

In March, JD.com established a dedicated embodied AI unit, recruiting Shen Hui, a former vice president at Chinese AI software company SenseTime, to lead the effort. In July, JD.com launched the JoyInside platform for robotics aimed at consolidating its years of work in intelligent interaction, particularly in customer service, digital avatars, and shopping assistance, said the company.

The company is now prioritizing emerging technologies such as embodied intelligence and LLMs. It aims to build a comprehensive innovation ecosystem through both in-house development and external investments, particularly in supply chain applications.

Wang Xing, founder and CEO of Meituan said during the company's Q4 2024 earnings call in March, "AI has greatly promoted the development of robot technology. Meituan will pay attention to and invest in start-up companies driving this wave. We will deepen partnerships with these young companies, weaving robotics and AI ever more tightly together." Emphasizing Meituan's ambition to act as the "bridge" between offline reality and the online world, he made clear that the firm—rooted in retail services—is laser-focused on putting AI to work in real-world, physical settings.

Meituan has not only been expanding its influence in the field of embodied AI but has also gradually built an intelligent robot industrial ecosystem through investment, assembling a "robot army." According to incomplete statistics, Meituan has invested in more than 30 robot-related upstream and downstream enterprises and large-model companies, covering multiple sub fields such as delivery, service, cleaning, and medical care, which can be described as "buying half of the robot track," according to a 36Kr report.

Wider applications

China's robotics sector is rapidly expanding, driven by advances in embodied intelligence technologies that enable machines to interact physically with their surroundings.

China had produced nearly 100 embodied AI robotic products since 2024, accounting for 70 percent of the global market, according to Du Guangda, an official of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, on April 26.

China is the only country in the world with a complete industrial chain for manufacturing humanoid robots, encompassing production, supply, and sales service system, said Du when attending an industry forum held in Wuxi, East China's Jiangsu Province.

In the 2025 government work report, China vowed to better integrate digital technologies with its manufacturing capabilities and market advantages. It will support the extensive application of large-scale AI models and develop new-generation intelligent terminals and smart manufacturing equipment, including intelligent connected new-energy vehicles and intelligent robots.

As China steadily advances toward its high-quality development, fast-developing embodied AI technologies also contribute significantly with their applications in sectors such as pharmaceutical, service, retail and energy production, according to industry experts.

Embodied AI integrates AI into physical bodies such as robots to enable them to perceive, learn and interact dynamically with the environment like humans, Jiang Lei, chief scientist of Shanghai-based National and Local Co-Built Humanoid Robotics Innovation Center, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

All these scenarios showcase how humanoid robots are quickly evolving to boost productivity and expand real-world use cases, Jiang added.

According to a report from Head Leopard Shanghai Research Institute, China's embodied AI market size reached 418.6 billion yuan in 2023 and is projected to reach 632.8 billion yuan by 2027, driven by breakthroughs in AI technology, the Xinhua News Agency reported.