China's Physical AI Boom: On the Ground and at the Frontier, the Engine Behind
Speech Synopsis
Why Physical AI, why China, why now — the world is shifting from screens to the physical world, and China is at the center of that shift.
- Not just a supply chain moat: The Greater Bay Area (GBA) supply chain behind many global Physical AI unicorns is no longer only about robots that run, dance, fight, and fold — these robots are now entering industrial-scale commercialization, for both local and global markets.
- The real opportunity is Brain & Soul: While hardware and supply chain give an edge today, the global race may ultimately be decided by AI Brain and Soul.
- Cross-border synergy is inevitable: For Physical AI innovation and investment, co-creation between China and the rest of Asia is no longer optional — it's the path forward.
Speakers
Tony Chen is the Founder and Managing Partner of Sparks Physical AI Ventures, a global fund dedicated to scaling early- to growth-stage startups in Physical AI. Bringing over nine years of venture capital experience, Tony was a founding investor at the Hong Kong X Technology Fund (co-founded by HongShan Capital), where he continues to serve as a Venture Partner. He has led more than 20 deep-tech investments with a 90% portfolio survival rate, including ESS unicorn EcoFlow and several near-unicorns such as ORCA-Tech, CYC Motor, and Haivivi.
Sparks Physical AI Ventures is a global investment fund and co-creation platform that coordinates and "assembles" the Physical AI value chain worldwide. Driven by a three-pillar strategy — Co-Build, Co-Invest, and Co-Win — the fund systematically empowers the expansion of global Physical AI enterprises. Tony believes the era of Physical AI requires perfect complementarity across three core pillars: Brain, Body, and Soul.
Prior to entering venture capital, Tony spent 15 years in engineering, project management, and operational leadership across Europe, Mainland China, and Hong Kong with Fortune 500 multinationals including Philips, Canon (Océ), and TE Connectivity. He is also a Founding Partner of MHL Capital Alliance, connecting family offices in Hong Kong and Europe, and spent eight years as Deputy Director at the Hong Kong X Innovation Foundation. He holds an M.Sc. in Materials Science and Engineering from Delft University of Technology (TU Delft).
Mike Lee is the Founder and Principal of Tenexel, an AI and robotics transformation consultancy focused on taking AI beyond proof of concept and into real operating environments. With more than a decade of experience in AI strategy and product development, he has led over 30 AI transformation projects for clients ranging from startups to Fortune Global 500 companies. His work includes enterprise AI platforms used daily by 20,000 employees and customer-facing services processing three million interactions per month.
Based in Shenzhen, Mike connects international demand for AI hardware and robotics with leading companies in the Greater Bay Area, supporting projects from partner identification and proof of concept through commercialization. In 2026 alone, he led partnership development in Shenzhen for German, Japanese, and Swedish enterprises, working with business leaders and investors across Seoul, Silicon Valley, and the Greater Bay Area.
Before founding Tenexel, Mike held AI product and consulting roles at MetanetGlobal, formerly Accenture Korea, and MAUM AI, a KOSDAQ-listed Korean AI company. His experience spans manufacturing, finance, retail, and digital services. He led multimodal AI agent research at Tsinghua University from 2022 to 2024, has advised Y Combinator AI startups since 2023, and holds a Master of Engineering from Tsinghua University.