Brain-Computer Interfaces 2025: Who Else Deserves Attention Beyond Neuralink?

• Synchron wins on safety: no craniotomy, FDA Breakthrough Device, closest to commercialization
• Precision Neuroscience has the best signal density: 1,024 channels on a 10-micron film
• China already has clinical billing codes for BCI — ¥966/session non-invasive, ¥6,600 for implants
• BCI 3.0 = bidirectional closed-loop: the brain both sends and receives signals
• Biggest risk: upstream chip supply chain + ethics/privacy legislation lagging behind the tech

I. Why Neuralink Is Not the Whole Story

In early 2024, Neuralink completed its first human implantation. A video of patient Noland Arbaugh controlling a computer cursor with his thoughts went viral. Elon Musk’s brand power brought “brain-computer interface” into mainstream conversation overnight.

But for researchers who follow this field closely, Neuralink is only part of the story — and arguably not the most interesting part.

The reality: BCI has decades of accumulated research behind it. Dozens of companies are approaching the problem from fundamentally different technical angles — some safer, some with stronger signals, some already closer to commercialization.

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II. The Invasiveness Spectrum: How BCI Technologies Diverge

The key to understanding BCI competition is the “invasiveness spectrum” — from fully non-invasive to direct cortical contact:

Type	Representative Technology	Signal Quality	Risk
Non-invasive	EEG, fNIRS headsets	Low	Minimal
Endovascular	Stentrode (Synchron)	Medium	Low (no craniotomy)
Epidural	Patch electrodes	Medium-High	Low
Cortical surface	Thin-film electrode arrays	High	Moderate
Deep implant	Utah Array, Neuralink	Extremely High	Higher

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III. Six International Companies Worth Watching

1. Synchron — The Smartest “No Brain Surgery” Solution

Technology: The Stentrode device is implanted via the jugular vein. Once in place, a stent expands and adheres to blood vessel walls near the motor cortex — no craniotomy required.

Progress:

• Multiple human implants completed in the US and Australia
• Patients can control iPhones, post on X, and shop online using thought alone
• FDA Breakthrough Device designation in 2023
• Collaborating with Apple on a “thought-to-text” accessibility feature

Advantage: Extremely low surgical risk — likely the fastest path to commercialization.
Limitation: Lower signal resolution than direct cortical contact; limited electrode count.

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2. Precision Neuroscience — A New Game from Neuralink’s Co-Founder

Background: Founded by Benjamin Rapoport, a Neuralink co-founder.

Technology: The Layer 7 Cortical Interface — an ultra-thin (10 micron) flexible thin-film electrode array that drapes over the cortical surface, covering far more area than traditional electrodes.

Progress:

• First human implantation (intraoperative use) completed in 2023
• Entered formal clinical trials in 2024
• 1,024 electrode channels, extremely high signal density

Advantage: Thinner and more flexible than Neuralink, with significantly less neural tissue damage.

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3. Blackrock Neurotech — The Most Mature Clinical Track Record

Background: Primary commercial vendor of the Utah Array, with 30 years of technical heritage and the foundational platform for most academic BCI research.

Progress:

• Implanted in over 35 patients worldwide, longest follow-up data in the field
• First patient to use BCI for long-term speech restoration: Pat Bennett (2023, ALS patient)

Limitation: Rigid silicon probes trigger inflammation over time; signal quality degrades with duration.

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4. Kernel — Redefining BCI from a Different Direction

Technology: The Flow helmet — based on time-domain functional near-infrared spectroscopy (TD-fNIRS), it non-invasively measures neural activity with far better resolution than traditional EEG.

Positioning: Neural augmentation for healthy individuals — cognitive performance monitoring, emotional state tracking, meditation assistance. Kernel’s long-term value may lie in building a large-scale human neural database.

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5. CTRL-Labs (Meta) — The Wrist Neural Interface

Technology: EMG electrodes on the skin surface capture motor neuron signals from the wrist, translating micro-movements into digital commands — bypassing brain implantation entirely.

Significance: If AR glasses become the next computing platform, this wristband may be its most important input device. Meta demonstrated fine-grained AR/VR control via prototype in 2024.

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6. ONWARD Medical — Spinal Stimulation That Restores Walking

Technology: Epidural spinal cord stimulation (ARC-EX and ARC-IM), precisely activating spinal neural circuits.

Progress:

• 2023 Nature milestone: three patients with complete spinal cord injuries relearned to walk
• FDA Breakthrough Device designation; CE mark approved in the EU

Significance: Demonstrates neuroplasticity is far stronger than previously understood — not just bypassing injury, but triggering genuine reorganization of spinal neural circuits.

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IV. China’s Reality: From Policy Blueprint to Clinical Billing

Unlike the international focus on technological diversity, China in 2025 has demonstrated remarkable execution capability for industrial deployment, and is leading in establishing clinical rules within its healthcare system.

1. The Policy Cycle: From “China Brain Project” to Industrial Rollout

Since “brain science and brain-inspired research” was designated a national priority in the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016), China has entered deep implementation of its Brain Initiative.

2025 milestone: The Implementation Opinions on Promoting Innovation and Development of the Brain-Computer Interface Industry (July 2025) sets explicit development targets — BCI has officially moved from lab research to industrial deployment.

2. Real Clinical Progress: A Billing Framework Takes Shape

Non-invasive fitting: Provinces including Hubei, Jiangsu, and Shanghai have established official pricing:

• Jiangsu and Hubei: approximately ¥966 per session
• Shanghai: hospital self-determined pricing
• Covers electrode placement, signal acquisition, and algorithm calibration

Invasive implantation fees:

• Hubei, Zhejiang: ¥6,550–¥6,600 per procedure
• Co-billing for the same surgical session explicitly prohibited

Significance: BCI in China is no longer purely experimental — it now has the operational foundation to enter insurance coverage and routine clinical practice.

3. Core Strengths and Gaps

Strengths: Strong engineering for non-invasive BCI; high policy certainty from top-down government design; abundant clinical resources.

Challenges: Core chips (BCI processors, BLE chips) and high-precision sensors remain the primary upstream bottlenecks.

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V. Industry Perspective

For international investors: Synchron’s low-risk pathway and Precision Neuroscience’s thin-film technology represent the current technological high ground.

For China-focused investors: Prioritize domestic companies that have entered clinical billing directories and hold Class II or III medical device certifications. Policy dividends have shifted from macro narratives to concrete “hospital access” and “surgical reimbursement.”

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VI. Industry Chain: Upstream–Downstream and China’s Key Players

Upstream (Core Components)

• BCI processors, BLE chips and IP suppliers
• High-precision EEG acquisition hardware
• Primary bottleneck: domestic chip development

Midstream (System Integration)

• Brain signal decoding algorithms
• Integrated hardware/software platform development

Downstream (Applications)

• Medical: functional replacement, motor recovery, neural rehabilitation
• Consumer: education, gaming, smart home interaction

China’s notable players:

• BrainCo (强脑科技): Active hard-tech unicorn in primary markets
• Sanbo Brain Hospital (三博脑科): Deep clinical experience and surgical resources
• CSII, Entropy-based Tech, Yanshan Tech: Demonstrated product deployment capability

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VII. The BCI 3.0 Era: Bidirectional Closed-Loop

Since 2024, the industry has entered BCI 3.0, defined by the convergence of perception, stimulation, and control:

• 1.0: Unidirectional readout (brain → machine)
• 2.0: Precise decoding, motor control commands
• 3.0: Bidirectional closed-loop — reading brain signals and writing feedback back to the brain, forming a true “brain-in-the-loop” system

Investment outlook: Most funding remains pre-Series B, but global BCI CAGR is projected to exceed 20% over the next five years.

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VIII. Risk Disclosure

Risk	Details
Technical underperformance	Multidisciplinary complexity; sensing and decoding breakthroughs may be delayed
Commercialization timeline	Stringent approval standards, long clinical cycles, significant capital requirements
Ethics and legal exposure	BCI touches thought-data directly; privacy and ethical frameworks are still evolving

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Core thesis: 2025 is an inflection point. International players are pushing the technical frontier; China is building the application infrastructure to deploy BCI at scale within its healthcare system. Whoever converts this technology into broadly deployable medical services will win the real competitive race.

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Author: Cherainboow | University of Cambridge
Sources: TF Securities “BCI Investment Atlas”; ZhongYou Securities “Brain Science Industry & Policy”; Huaan Securities Research Institute
Next issue: Longevity Research 2025 — From Animal Models to Human Trials, Which Companies Are Actually Moving the Needle?