Hangzhou‑based Unitree, the world’s top seller of humanoid robots, will debut on Shanghai’s STAR market on Wednesday. The offering has already attracted 6.1 billion yuan (about $905 million) in funding and was oversubscribed more than 8,000 times, a record for the tech‑focused exchange.
New robot debut and rapid growth
On Monday the company unveiled a new humanoid called “Superman,” capable of jumping two metres and running at 12.66 metres per second. Unitree’s robots gained national attention last year when they performed choreographed dances at China’s Lunar New Year gala, and the firm’s founder, Wang Xingxing, sat beside President Xi Jinping at a high‑level tech symposium.
Founded in 2016, Unitree is backed by major Chinese investors including Meituan, Tencent, Alibaba and AI startup DeepSeek. In 2025 the company reported revenue of nearly 1.7 billion yuan ($252 million), a ten‑fold increase from two years earlier, and posted a net profit of 278 million yuan ($41 million). Sales of its quadruped “robot dogs” accounted for roughly 42 % of that revenue.
Why the IPO matters
The listing will make Unitree the first pure‑play humanoid robot manufacturer to go public on a mainland Chinese exchange. Analysts at Counterpoint Research say the IPO could become a benchmark for future offerings in the emerging robotics sector.
China’s government has identified humanoid robots as a strategic priority, describing them as “new high ground of technological competition” in a 2023 policy document. With a shrinking workforce and slower economic growth, Beijing is betting billions on robotics to sustain productivity.
Challenges and U.S. restrictions
Despite strong sales, experts note that most Unitree deployments remain in research and education, with industrial use accounting for less than 10 % of sales through the first three quarters of 2025. Moving from demonstrations to widespread factory adoption will require further investment in embodied AI – the software that gives robots their decision‑making capability.
In June, Unitree announced a partnership with U.S. chipmaker Nvidia to advance its AI research. However, the company was added to a U.S. government blacklist of Chinese firms linked to the military and barred from Pentagon contracts. Earlier this year Washington also prohibited new imports of humanoid and quadruped robots, citing national‑security concerns. While existing models can still be sold in the United States, the restrictions could limit future overseas growth, which currently represents over 40 % of Unitree’s revenue.
Outlook
Unitree’s prospectus acknowledges the risk that tighter U.S. controls could curb overseas sales and affect performance. Analysts suggest the firm must broaden its AI capabilities and prove its robots can operate reliably in real‑world industrial settings to sustain long‑term growth.
For investors and observers of the global technology race, Unitree’s record‑setting IPO highlights China’s accelerating push into advanced robotics, even as geopolitical tensions create headwinds for cross‑border trade.
Original reporting: KTVZ (Central Oregon) — read the source article.
