Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s brain-computer technology company Neuralink is aiming for the stratosphere with a vision to make over $1 billion a year in revenues by 2031.
Backing its ambition is a vision to implant its neural interface technology in 20,000 individuals every year.
Neuralink is set to mass-produce its brain chips, beginning with a product known as Telepathy, according to company documents viewed by Bloomberg. The product will allow people to control digital devices by thinking, a paradigm-shifting achievement in neurotechnology.
In early human tests now, Neuralink has implanted devices in fewer than 10 patients. The company, however, is expecting full regulatory clearance in the United States to market its first product commercially within 2029, if it follows its timeline. It would be a significant milestone in integrating biology and computer systems, if it adheres to its timeline.
Neuralink’s grand vision is to construct five large clinics by the year 2030 that will provide three major neural devices:
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Telepathy:Â Allows users to communicate with computers and phones using their brains.
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Blindsight:Â Seeks to restore sight to the blind.
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Deep:Â Seeks to treat neurological conditions such as Parkinson’s and tremors.
By 2030, the company could potentially perform as many as 10,000 procedures annually for Blindsight alone, with a projected $50,000 reimbursement on each. That one number alone would be more than $500 million in annual revenues.
It has been invested with $1.3 billion and priced at $9 billion since its launch in 2017. The firm is among multiple firms leading the brain-computer interface (BCI) market, fighting for FDA approval and commercial success with other neurotech companies.
While ambitious in nature, the path to this point is not even. Neuralink and its competitors must still overcome regulatory issues to achieve and prove long-term effectiveness and implant safety. None has received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for long-term human use.
Despite that, Neuralink’s initial results are encouraging. Clinical trial patients who were brain dead could browse the internet, play games, and even edit video files—using brain signals alone. Musk’s team has even begun testing a chip to enhance vision in monkeys.
While Elon Musk is notoriously prone to announcing high-flying goals with timelines, then periodically coming up short, like in the case of Tesla’s self-driving cars, Neuralink’s development indicates the road to useful brain technology is not nearly as distant as one might assume.
As the firm continues to look for overseas volunteers to contribute to its work, long-term potential may alter the course of medicine, access, and man-machine interface beyond what had once been presumed to be science fiction.
