A teacher in the recording sits still, her hands resting on her lap. She cannot speak after a brain injury, yet a full paragraph of comments she leaves for her students appears on a nearby screen within a minute.

Her thoughts are captured by a thin film of electrodes placed on the surface of her brain and sent through a cable to a chip under the skin near her chest, where the signals are processed and transmitted to a computer.

At NeuroXess’ Shanghai offices, founder and chief scientist Tao Hu often uses this scene to introduce the company’s work.

It shows how brain-computer interfaces, or BCI systems, can help patients communicate or control devices using only their thoughts.

The company is considered China’s leading competitor to Elon Musk’s Neuralink, and in some areas, such as real-time Chinese-language decoding, it has achieved capabilities ahead of its global counterparts.

When a person thinks about speaking or moving, the brain produces electrical signals. Ultra-thin electrodes placed on the brain’s surface detect these signals, Tao explained.

A small implanted connector links the electrodes to a chip, which handles power, safety and wireless transmission. Algorithms outside the body analyze the signal patterns and convert them into words, pointer movements or game actions.

From silk-inspired innovation to clinical breakthroughs

NeuroXess’ electrodes do not pierce deep brain tissue. They flex with the brain’s surface to capture activity from multiple brain regions.

The flexible materials used in the electrodes draw on techniques familiar to Tao from his hometown in east China’s Jiangxi Province, a region known historically for silk.

The fine structure and strength of silk helped shape his early understanding of how thin materials can be both soft and durable. That idea stayed with him as he moved into microfabrication and implant design.

Tao, 43, grew up in Nanchang and earned a reputation as a young genius for his academic ability. During his final year of high school, he helped teachers prepare exam papers while classmates spent their days solving them.

At 16, he was admitted to the University of Science and Technology of China. He later earned his PhD in mechanical engineering from Boston University and completed postdoctoral research and teaching in biomedical engineering at Tufts University.

In 2014, he returned to China to work on advanced sensor technologies at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Shanghai.

A turning point came in 2019, when he surveyed development needs in Jiangxi and realized that few domestic companies were working on implanted BCI.

In 2021, he established Shanghai-based NeuroXess to combine research talent in Shanghai with manufacturing capacity in Jiangxi.

He resigned from his deputy director role at the Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology at the end of 2024 to concentrate fully on the company.

“I just wanted research to be used and solve more demanding problems, not be left on paper,” he told Shanghai Daily.

Over the past 20 years, he has worked through holidays, including the Spring Festival. Many of his key papers were submitted on holiday dates most people spend at home.

He has no leisure hobbies apart from eating a bowl of spicy Nanchang rice noodles when stressed, which he said clears his thoughts in minutes and allows him to continue working without delay.

“I expect research staff to have the same strong diligence and to share the belief that technology should serve people,” Tao said.

NeuroXess’ 92 employees include researchers from more than 20 specialties, ranging from materials science to neurosurgery.

Some have published in leading scientific journals and others have long clinical experience. Engineers observe neurosurgical procedures, and clinicians work directly with algorithm teams, ensuring that device design matches real patient needs.

The company now holds multiple patents and has become one of China’s most visible BCI firms. It has attracted investment from major institutions, including HongShan and others.

In 2022, it was selected for the MIT Technology Review’s list of the “50 Smartest Companies,” the only Chinese BCI company to be included that year.

It remains the only firm worldwide to demonstrate both real-time movement decoding and real-time Chinese-language decoding through implanted systems.

Market surge and talent crunch

The rapid rise of the company aligns with national industry trends. China’s BCI market reached 3.2 billion yuan (US$450 million) in 2024, up 18.8 percent from the year before, and is expected to reach 5.58 billion yuan by 2027, growing about 20 percent annually.

Regional specialization is emerging: Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei focuses on research systems; the Yangtze River Delta region emphasizes clinical trials and rehabilitation products; and the Pearl River Delta is building a full hardware-to-application supply chain.

Cities such as Shanghai and Beijing have released plans for 2025-2030 that target breakthroughs in electrodes, chips and decoding algorithms by 2027 and initial large-scale clinical use by 2030.

As the industry expands, Tao has continued to urge caution. He has warned publicly that BCI could, like other advanced technologies like the metaverse, be overhyped before it is fully ready.

He said his main concern is that “shortcuts can push the field off track.” He has encouraged firms to prioritize clinical evidence and avoid exaggeration.

Under his direction, NeuroXess releases results only through clinical data.

In 2023, animal studies showed real-time movement decoding and game control.

In 2024, a patient with damaged language areas produced fluent sentences through thought alone at nearly half normal speech speed, and two users completed a remote thought-based conversation.

In 2025, patients with epilepsy used the implant to control action video games with reaction speeds close to traditional devices.

Tao said these early uses mark a shift from medical rehabilitation to everyday assistance scenarios.

In September 2025, Tao’s company donated an education fund to Fudan University’s Brain Science Institute to support young researchers.

He said China’s brain science is moving from “following” to “competing” to “leading,” but the shortage of top researchers and limited support for young talent remain obstacles.

Tao said the goal of his work is to use technology to relieve patient suffering and expand human intelligence.

“The first stage is to help patients return to normal. The second stage is to empower normal people,” he said.