At the beginning of 2026, from the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, USA to the Chinese Spring Festival Gala, China's independently developed humanoid robots have frequently "broken boundaries". The products and applications of multiple Chinese companies have not only sparked discussions in the overseas industry, but also continuously "flooded" on global social media platforms and international media. This confirms the common view in the industry that at this critical juncture of technological explosion and industrial restructuring, artificial intelligence (AI) is embedding itself into the physical world through carriers, and embodied intelligence is accelerating into the era of application. In this process, China has become an important driving force for the global transformation of this cutting-edge industry, thanks to its strong policy support, accelerated technological innovation, continuous improvement of the industrial chain, and increasingly diverse application scenarios. The mid-2020s may be remembered as a period when AI is no longer just a screen based productivity tool, but begins to operate as a physical system in the real economy. ”The report released by the World Economic Forum in February stated that. The report released by the Center for Security and Emerging Technologies at Georgetown University in February also pointed out that in the past three years, global attention has been focused on generative AI, chatbots, and new models released by cutting-edge AI laboratories. However, a more subtle transformation is happening, and many people believe that it represents the next stage of AI development: the arrival of physical AI. ”Human intelligence is the result of the interaction between the brain, body, and environment. Embodied intelligence follows a similar logic, emphasizing not only the computing power support of the AI "brain", but also the integration with physical entities, making it an intelligent agent that can achieve the integration of perception, cognition, decision-making, and action. Among them, humanoid robots are considered to be their best form and are expected to become the new generation of super terminals after smartphones and new energy vehicles. The Emerging Technologies and Security Centre under the Alan Turing Institute in the UK listed the rise of embodied intelligence and embedded AI as one of the most noteworthy technology trends for 2026 in a report released earlier this year. The report states that AI is increasingly integrated into physical systems. By using sensors, motors and natural language processing technology, embodied intelligence enables robots, UAVs and autonomous vehicle to perceive, reason and act in the real world. Commercial deployment: a historic turning point. The industry generally believes that the paradigm shift from laboratory demonstrations to large-scale commercial implementation is the primary trend in the development of embodied intelligence this year. Deloitte stated in its latest 2026 Technology Trends report that physical AI is ready for mainstream deployment. The report from the World Economic Forum states that by early 2026, embodied intelligence has begun to shift from the research stage to the industrial implementation stage. According to a report released by international authoritative market research firm MM in June last year, the embodied intelligence market is undergoing a transformative transformation, driven by the evolution of emerging technologies and user demands. From quantitative data, the global market size of embodied intelligence is expected to reach approximately 4.44 billion US dollars by 2025, with a compound annual growth rate of about 39%, and is projected to reach 23 billion US dollars by 2030. At the same time, the world seems to be anticipating significant breakthroughs in the field of embodied intelligence. NVIDIA founder and CEO Huang Renxun pointed out in this year's CES speech that the evolution of AI will eventually develop from perception, generation, and agency to physical AI that can understand the physical world, and believes that the "ChatGPT moment" of physical AI is coming soon. However, the development of emerging technologies is not achieved overnight. At the current stage, embodied intelligence still faces challenges such as immature robot models and a lack of high-quality AI training data. It is not yet fully mature in terms of technical routes, commercialization models, and application scenarios. As Wang Xingxing, founder and CEO of Yushu Technology, said, embodied intelligence is still in its infancy. If there are large AI models with large-scale application capabilities and robot technology breakthroughs in the next few years, then the popularity will "far exceed mobile Internet". 'China Speed': The driving force behind industrial development has shifted from fully autonomous' working 'at CES in January to performing alongside humans on the Spring Festival Gala; From winning large industrial orders and initiating the "leasing model", to "breaking the circle" in large-scale sports events... The products and applications of many Chinese humanoid robot enterprises have become "popular" on the Internet. Many scholars lament that China has formed technological innovation advantages in multiple aspects, including technological progress, scene openness, industry attention, and talent concentration, and is fully prepared for the new round of technological revolution represented by embodied intelligence. American entrepreneur Elon Musk previously said when talking about technologies such as humanoid robots, "Many people outside of China underestimate China, but China's strength is strong." This is not a novelty, but a concentrated reflection of China's policy support for technological innovation, as well as the continuous increase in investment in embodied intelligence industry, technological accumulation and breakthroughs, and continuous improvement of industrial chain in recent years. In 2025, embodied intelligence will be included for the first time in the Chinese government work report; From establishing a billion dollar industrial fund to focusing on core technology research and development, Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and other places have launched a series of related measures to promote the rapid development of embodied intelligence industry... embodied intelligence is upgrading from a technological concept to a national strategic and local key layout direction. The report released by the Development Research Center of the State Council in October last year showed that the market size of China's embodied intelligence industry is expected to exceed one trillion yuan by 2035. The data from international organizations also confirms this trend. According to a report released by International Data Corporation (IDC) in January, humanoid robots have officially entered the stage of large-scale commercial use. By 2025, the global shipment of humanoid robots will reach about 18000 units, with China accounting for the main share. Compared to a year ago, many European and American media outlets are amazed by the speed of China's technological innovation and believe that China will become an important driving force for the development of the global embodied intelligence industry. It can be foreseen that the vigorous development of China's embodied intelligence industry will not only drive the further leap of new quality productivity in various fields such as transportation and logistics, industrial manufacturing, and commercial services, but also enable emerging technologies to enter households and communities more and faster, bringing more convenience and benefits to the lives of ordinary people. (New Society)