Chinese AI startups raised $5.6B in robotics deals by mid-2026, pivoting from LLMs to world models that power humanoid robots and autonomous

Chinese AI companies launch new models, narrowing the gap with Silicon Valley. Anthropic has 93.5% YES for best AI model by August 2026, while Alibaba at 0.2% Y.

When Hongyuan Lu finished his doctorate program in AI and engineering a year ago, he reached out to some investors to see if he could raise money for a startup to build world…