XPeng robotics business raises over US$ 900 million, production planned for end-2026

XPeng's robotics business has raised more than US$ 900 million (~RM 3.88 billion) in its first funding round.

On 24 August, XPeng said it had signed equity financing agreements with several investors and the post-money valuation reached US$6.3 billion (~RM 27.17 billion).

At the centre of the business is XPeng IRON, a humanoid robot developed around Embodied AI.

XPeng says the robot has 76 degrees of freedom, including 21 in each hand, and its body uses a fully enclosed flexible lattice structure.

Rather than buying in the key technology, XPeng says its robotics team developed the robot's chips, controllers, motion systems and dexterous hands in-house. It is also applying the company's existing expertise in vehicle development and manufacturing to the project.

IRON runs on three Turing AI chips rated at a combined 2,250 TOPS. XPeng has also put its physical AI model directly on the robot, allowing it to carry out everyday tasks without a remote operator.

Running the model on the robot itself should also help keep latency down and means sensitive data does not have to be sent back to the cloud.

XPeng will remain the controlling shareholder after the funding round and will continue to consolidate the robotics business into its financial results.

The new capital will be used for hardware and software development, AI model training, data collection, production facilities and overseas expansion.

XPeng plans to put IRON into production by the end of 2026, initially deploying the robots in XPeng's physical stores and technology parks. Broader deliveries in China and overseas markets, including Southeast Asia, are planned for 2027.