XPENG IRON humanoid robot draws record physical AI funding
ainews ·
XPENG's physical AI unit has raised over $900 million at a $6.3 billion valuation to scale its IRON humanoid robot, marking what the company says is China's largest single-round private capital raise in the physical AI industry. The round was led by IDG Capital, with Tencent and Alibaba joining as strategic investors and Gaorong Ventures also participating; XPENG will retain controlling ownership of the business. The funds are intended to support full-stack physical AI development, including software and hardware R&D, model training, data generation, mass production facilities, and commercial expansion beyond China. IRON has 76 degrees of freedom across its body and 21 in each hand, with up to 2,250 TOPS of effective computing power delivered by three in-house Turing AI chips. Mass production is expected by the end of 2026, with customer deliveries in China and overseas planned for 2027. Despite the fundraising, XPENG's shares fell 7.22 percent at the time of writing and have declined 51.24 percent over the past 12 months, as its core electric vehicle business faces intense competition. Investors, however, say physical AI is moving from technical breakthroughs to scalable manufacturing, a shift that favors XPENG's automotive-grade quality standards and supply chain experience.
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