At the 2026 Yabuli Forum Summer Annual Meeting, held September 4-6 in Chengdu, Sichuan, under the theme "Enterprise Innovation and Cycle Crossing," Formatia Founder and CEO Peng Lei offered a grounded perspective on the brain-computer interface (BCI) sector.

Peng Lei stated that the core challenge for the BCI track is singular and consistent: continuously improving the resolution of reading and writing signals within the brain. He noted that whether through invasive, non-invasive, or semi-invasive methods, or via electrical, acoustic, optical, or magnetic physical approaches, the ultimate question remains the same - how to more effectively enhance the brain's read-write capability and steadily push the resolution of this capability higher.

He expressed that this question is unlikely to be answered in the short term. Several startups in the industry are only at the beginning of their journey. He estimated that this exploration could span ten, fifteen years, or even longer. It is not merely a long-term engineering challenge but a complex scientific problem, involving research into the brain's working principles, cellular and molecular protein-level studies, and neural circuit investigations.

"The BCI field has both a distant, expansive future and clear near-term clinical value. As entrepreneurs, we must strike a balance between these two aspects," Peng Lei said. In his view, within the foreseeable three to five years, BCIs will essentially remain serious medical devices. The payers for their innovative applications will inevitably be the healthcare system and patients.

He highlighted the need to consider how, within the framework of China's distinctive medical security system, cutting-edge BCI applications can be incorporated into medical insurance coverage. This would benefit more patients and address practical ailments, which is the key question on the payment side. Although the medical system will ultimately foot the bill, the business model will not yield high margins due to the characteristics of China's medical system. Instead, it will need to return to fundamental medical services, addressing the public's basic health needs.