Musk’s headaches: meet China’s corporate matrix challenging his business empire

US entrepreneur Elon Musk has long been highly respected in China. His business ideas – from electric cars to rockets, humanoid robots and brain implants – have spawned Chinese followers, many of which now pose growing threats to Musk’s business empire. These Chinese competitors tend to follow a similar strategy: capitalise on the large domestic market to grow their business while taking advantage of the country’s integrated supply chains and expertise in fast-response manufacturing to hone their competitive edge. Here is a rundown of some of the most formidable rivals in Musk’s bread-and-butter sectors. These are the Chinese companies the world’s first trillionaire is likely to be keeping an eye on. Electric vehicles and autonomous driving Some of the first Chinese buyers of Tesla electric vehicles (EVs) have turned into its biggest rivals in China and international markets. Nio’s founder and CEO, William Li, and Xpeng’s chairman and CEO, He Xiaopeng, have said that their experience owning Teslas in China, shortly after the US carmaker entered the market in 2014, played a part in their decisions to start their companies. Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun openly discussed purchasing and tearing down three Tesla Model Y SUVs as his company prepared for its entry into the car market in 2025. While the above companies offer cars comparable to Tesla’s in terms of features, by far the biggest rival to the US carmaker is Shenzhen-based BYD, previously backed by Warren Buffett. The company surpassed Tesla as the world’s top maker of battery EVs on an annual basis in 2025 with 2.26 million deliveries versus Tesla’s 1.64 million, although the quarterly lead continues to change hands. Meanwhile, BYD, which also makes petrol-powered cars, is set to challenge Toyota as the world’s largest automaker overall. It is aggressively pursuing a go-global strategy, building local production and putting its cars into competition with Tesla’s vehicles in Southeast Asia, Europe and South America. While no other Chinese EV makers are currently close to Tesla’s market share, the country’s EV sector as a whole is a major challenger, as it is the world’s largest producer and exporter of EVs. China produced 13.5 million EVs last year when both battery-powered and hybrid cars are included, accounting for more than 60 per cent of the global total. Exports skyrocketed by more than 100 per cent year on year to 2.6 million units, reinforcing China’s status as a global automotive export powerhouse. In autonomous driving, tech giant Baidu powers commercial robotaxis via its Apollo Go platform, while newly public pioneers WeRide and Pony.ai are rapidly scaling driverless operations in top-tier Chinese cities. Meanwhile, technology provider Momenta has secured regulatory approval in Germany to begin testing its autonomous-driving systems on public roads. And Huawei Technologies’ automated driving system has racked up more than 12.1 billion kilometres of operation to provide data to fast track its neural network training. Rockets and satellite internet SpaceX’s Chinese competitors include private launch firms LandSpace, Galactic Energy, CAS Space and Beijing Minospace Technology, alongside state-owned China Aerospace Science and Technology. SpaceX retains a large lead in reusable launches and satellite deployment, but China is combining state-led engineering with private capital. At least 15 Chinese commercial aerospace companies are preparing to list in Shanghai or Hong Kong. LandSpace is seeking to raise 7.5 billion yuan (US$1.1 billion), while it and CAS Space plan to invest their initial public offering (IPO) proceeds in reusable rockets. China completed its first controlled recovery of an orbital-class rocket booster on July 10, becoming the second country after the US to achieve the feat. The Long March-10B booster was caught with a net aboard a sea-based platform built by Guangzhou Shipyard International, a unit of China State Shipbuilding Corporation. The system differs from SpaceX’s Falcon 9, which lands on deployable legs. LandSpace also completed a static-fire test of its reusable Zhuque-3 rocket in June. In the satellite-broadband space, Musk’s Starlink faces competition from Beijing’s massive SatNet constellation, while Shanghai is backing the Thousand Sails constellation. Humanoid robots In terms of promised capabilities, Tesla’s humanoid robot Optimus goes head-to-head against competing products from Chinese rivals including Unitree Robotics, Agibot and Hong Kong-listed UBTech Robotics, as well as carmakers such as BYD, Xiaomi and Xpeng that are pursuing robot ambitions. However, as China moves at a breakneck pace to dominate the market, Tesla lags. While the US carmaker has yet to officially sell Optimus, China has established itself as the world’s largest supplier of humanoid robots of a variety of types, from companionship to fighting. Agibot produced its 15,000th robot in June, although actual shipments remain lower, with Omdia estimating 5,168 deliveries in 2025. Similarly, UBTech, whose robots are already deployed in car factories, is targeting 5,000 deliveries in 2026. Xpeng plans to produce more than 1,000 Iron humanoids a month by the end of 2026 and begin global deliveries in 2027. Brain-computer interfaces While Musk’s Neuralink has tested wireless brain implants for device control in patients, China’s brain-computer interface (BCI) start-ups, including Neuracle Technology, BrainCo and NeuroXess, are leveraging state support to fast track commercialisation. Chinese regulators in March approved Neuracle Technology’s hand-movement implant for paralysed patients following 36 clinical procedures. Institutional backing is accelerating this push, marked by state-owned insurer PICC launching China’s first commercial BCI surgery policy alongside a Zhejiang University-affiliated hospital. With NeuroXess and Hong Kong IPO-hopeful BrainCo swiftly clearing clinical and regulatory hurdles, China’s coordinated ecosystem aims to aggressively challenge Neuralink’s global visibility. Solar power and energy storage Tesla’s Powerwall products are nearly synonymous with home energy storage in markets like the US, and the company makes and sells its own solar panels as well. However, according to the International Energy Agency, China currently controls 85 per cent of global solar-manufacturing capacity and 80 per cent of lithium-ion battery output. Listed giants involved in this area include Contemporary Amperex Technology Ltd, known as CATL, BYD, Longi Green Energy Technology, Jinko Solar Holding, Trina Solar, and GCL Technology Holdings. Tunnels and infrastructure While The Boring Company is expanding its Vegas Loop in Las Vegas and plans to begin building a 6.4km pilot network in Nashville, Tennessee, later this year, state-owned Chinese contractors are digging deep, showing their engineering muscle worldwide. China has produced more than 4,000 tunnel-boring machines, accounting for about 70 per cent of the global market, according to state media. Major players include subsidiaries of China Railway Construction.

Musk’s headaches: meet China’s corporate matrix challenging his business empire

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}From Tesla to SpaceX, Starlink and Neuralink, Chinese companies are giving – or trying to give – Elon Musk’s firms a run for their money

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}Electric vehicles and autonomous driving

From Tesla to SpaceX, Starlink and Neuralink, Chinese companies are giving – or trying to give – Elon Musk’s firms a run for their money

Electric vehicles and autonomous driving