China's 10-Minute Brain Implant: The Endovascular BCI Race Against Neuralink

In the race to bring brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) to patients, one Chinese startup has taken a radically different approach to the problem: instead of opening the skull, it threads a device through a vein in the neck into the brain's blood vessels in about 10 minutes. The leading company is Shanghai-based StairMed Technology (also known as Jieti Medical). It has developed an endovascular (interventional) BCI that avoids open-skull surgery entirely .

How the 10-Minute Implant Works

StairMed's device is designed to enter through a blood vessel in the neck and travel through the vascular system to reach the brain, a procedure co-founder Zhao Zhengtuo described as similar to placing a stent . Surgeon Duan Wanru of Xuanwu Hospital in Beijing told the South China Morning Post that an experienced surgeon can position the device in as little as 10 minutes .

Unlike Neuralink's implant, which requires a surgical robot to open the skull and place ultra-fine electrode threads directly into brain tissue, StairMed's approach is minimally invasive. The device anchors just outside the vessel wall, potentially reducing surgical risk and recovery time .

Funding and Backing

StairMed has raised over 1.1 billion yuan (~$163 million) over the past year from major investors, including Tencent and Alibaba . In March 2026, Alibaba led a strategic financing round of 500 million yuan, with existing shareholders including Tencent, SDIC Venture Capital, OrbiMed, Qiming Venture Partners, and others also participating .

Where the Technology Stands

To date, the procedure has been successfully tested on sheep . As of August 2026, StairMed has not yet started human trials of its own device, meaning the much-discussed 10-minute implantation time is currently a target demonstrated by researchers rather than a procedure available to patients .

However, a related milestone was achieved in June 2025, when a team led by Nankai University completed what it called the world's first human trial of an interventional BCI implanted via blood vessels . The procedure, which used a stent electrode guided into the patient's intracranial vasculature via a minimally invasive neck vein procedure, helped a 67-year-old paralyzed male patient regain significant limb function . StairMed has partnered with the Chinese Academy of Sciences on its vascular insertion program .

The Competition with Neuralink

StairMed explicitly aims to compete with Elon Musk's Neuralink . The major technical differentiator is that Neuralink's implant requires a craniotomy (opening the skull) and a surgical robot to place electrode threads, while StairMed's endovascular approach enters through the bloodstream . This could dramatically lower surgical risk and broaden the addressable patient population .

China's Broader BCI Push

Beijing's policy goal is to nurture 2–3 globally competitive BCI players by 2030 . The U.S. BCI market is projected to be worth $80 billion by 2035 . Chinese research groups at Nankai University and Xuanwu Hospital are also advancing endovascular BCI approaches, signaling a coordinated national push in the sector .