About Core Matter
Core Matter is a research publication on Physical AI. From actuators, hands, compute, models and data, it covers the whole stack that makes machines useful in the real world, and the global supply chain behind them.
Why I write this
Physical AI sits at the intersection of models, hardware, data and compute. While our newsfeed is filled with beautiful demo videos, as an investor, I found the signal hard to see. Through primary research, interviews and filings, I want to uncover the gap between demo and deployment reality. Questions I try to answer: who actually captures value in a humanoid BOM? What do the IPO prospectuses say that the press releases don’t? Every claim is tagged by source, eg filing, company-stated, or inference.
A bit about me
My name is Michelle Sun. I started my career in equity research at Goldman Sachs covering TMT. I then founded First Code Academy and grew it to one of Asia’s largest coding education companies for K-12 students. I’ve been a strategic advisor to MIT CSAIL since 2017. I’ve been an angel investor since 2018, mostly on frontier tech, which was what led me to go deep into Physical AI. Born and raised in Hong Kong and based in San Francisco, I am fluent in English, Mandarin and Cantonese.
What you will get by subscribing
Flagship reports (~every 8 weeks): Primary-source dive deep into one topic. The first, The Involuted Biped, dissects China’s humanoid industry through Unitree’s IPO filing, UBTech’s annual report and supplier data.
Weekly digest: what mattered in Physical AI this week, and my take on why
Interview series: Long-form interviews with founders and operators building this stack, globally
Who reads Core Matter
Partners at Silicon Valley VC funds, public equity portfolio managers building positions in the robotics supply chain, corporate strategy and supply-chain teams at component, systems and industrial giants, researchers and founders.
If your job involves deciding where value accrues in the Physical AI stack, this is written for you.
Working with me
For institutional research, structured briefings, or speaking, email michelle@corematterlabs.co
I speak regularly on robotics economics and Physical AI supply chain.
A note on independence
Core Matter is reader-supported and editorially independent. I occasionally accept sponsorship where values align, and it never touches the analysis. When I hold a position or advisory relationship relevant to a piece, I disclose it. The standard here is disclosed integrity, not performed neutrality.
Thanks for reading. If you’ve seen something in the field I should look at, be it a filing, a teardown, a supplier nobody’s covering, my inbox is open.
