Who are the major players, why have they become market leaders, and how do we move forward together as a society?

By MICHAEL SPENCER,  GRACE SHAO, AND DIANA WOLF TORRES From AI Supremacy

To understand and track the future of AI, we’ll need to keep an eye on China. 

One of the big questions I’ve had in the past few months is how can China’s lead of EV makers translate to a very competitive group of humanoid robotics makers and startups pushing the future of mobility. Could some of their avant-garde “flying cars” contribute to the future of mobility? What will China’s EV makers become in 5-10 years? 

Chinese EV makers aren’t just car makers, they are innovation hubs. Today we’ll explore many examples of this. 

• I asked Grace Shao and Diana Wolf Torres to look into this complicated situation pre 2025 China trade war. 
• Grace Shao is an independent researcher who writes about AI, Physical AI, and AI infrastructure on Substack at AI Proem. 
• Diana Wolf Torres transforms complex AI technology concepts into clear, compelling narratives that resonate with broad audiences. As the founder of Deep Learning with the Wolf and a veteran technology communicator with over two decades of experience. 

In this article we’ll delve into China’s EV makers, physical AI, the future of mobility and everything from smart homes to robotics in China. We’ll take a look at the R&Dinside of China’s EV makers taking a holistic snapshot. 

BYD vs. Tesla update April, 2025 

China’s BYD has a lot more momentum than Tesla in the EV race in recent months: 

• Earlier this month (April, 2025) Tesla reported a 20% drop in auto revenue with Net income plummeting 71%. 
• A few days ago, BYD reported operating revenues that have jumped 37% year-over-year to 170.4 billion yuan, or roughly $23.3 billion. 
• In late 2024 we learned that BYD was conducting a new mass recruitment drive for robotics talent to staff its embodied intelligence (EI) unit. 

Keep in this in your mind as we proceed in this very well researched deep dive. Also read the deep dive 

Edi Obiakpani-Reid did with us about BYD. 

Recent articles on AI Proem 

We often have Grace talk to us about China Tech and China AI and its various ramifications, including physical AI. 

1. [Audio+Video] The Big Technology Podcast: China’s AI Strategy (YouTube Here) 
2. AI Arms Race Far From Over: Chips is Only Half the Game, Infrastructure is the Other
3. Behind the AI Arms Race: U.S. vs. China Cloud Computing

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Diana Wolf Articles 

Diana is our lead robotics reporter: 

1. The Robots are coming: Genesis
2. Global Robotics Landscape 2025
3. Reflections from GTC 2025: Robots, Recovery, and the Road Ahead

There are so many EV makers, EV battery leaders and EV borderline robotics makers in China already in 2025. A recent event where various Chinese humanoid robots participated in a half-marathon in Beijing that surprised some analysts. 

China’s EV makers are poised not only to increase global sales in 2025 and take marketshare from Tesla and others amid Elon Musk boycotts and problematic reciprocal trade tariffs by the Trump Administration but build new capabilities the car makers in the U.S., South Korea or Japan are not known for. 

China’s Variety of EV makers means a pivot to Robots is in the Cards 

China’s EV Makers are Evolving 

Here are some names to watch: 

• BYD
• Geely
• Xiaomi (SU7 pictured above). 
• Xpeng
• SAIC-GM-Wuling 
• Li Auto 
• Zeekr
• Nio + so many others (we’ll be covering many of these below).

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