BEIJING, Aug 24 (Reuters) – Chinese automaker Xpeng said on Monday its robotics unit had raised more than $900 million in its first funding round, setting a new record for a single private financing in China’s embodied AI sector.
The funding round, led by IDG Capital and backed by strategic investors Tencent and Alibaba, values the robotics business at more than $6.3 billion, Xpeng said in a statement.
The proceeds will be used to develop robotics hardware and software, train and refine physical AI models, collect high-quality data, build end-to-end mass-production facilities, and support global expansion, the company said.
Xpeng plans to begin mass production of its humanoid robot, Xpeng IRON, by year-end, with initial deployments at its retail stores and industrial campuses. Commercial sales and deliveries in China and overseas markets are scheduled to begin in 2027.
CEO He Xiaopeng announced in June that he would personally lead the robotics business as the electric vehicle maker, seen as one of the leading automaker-backed developers of humanoid robots, pushes towards mass production.
The robotics sector has attracted growing interest from automakers, which see parallels with intelligent vehicle development, including expertise in sensors, software, batteries and supply-chain management.
In April, Shanghai-based embodied AI startup TARS Robotics raised more than $455 million in a pre-A funding round, a deal that was then billed as the largest single private financing in China’s embodied AI sector.
(Reporting by Qiaoyi Li, Xiuhao Chen, Yukun Zhang and Ryan Woo; Editing by Susan Fenton and Mark Potter)
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