Chinese humanoid robot maker Unitree Robotics surged 629% on its STAR Market trading debut Wednesday, briefly valuing the company at roughly $66 billion in a landmark moment for China’s robotics sector.
Shares opened at 1,100 yuan after the IPO priced at 150.80 yuan per share, raising about 6.1 billion yuan ($904 million) for roughly 10 percent of the company. The stock later settled around 883.9 yuan, still representing a nearly five-fold gain from the offer price.
Record Demand Ahead of Debut
The offering drew extraordinary investor appetite. Retail subscriptions were more than 8,000 times oversubscribed, according to Reuters, while Bloomberg reported the retail tranche was covered nearly 5,500 times. The IPO makes Unitree the first publicly traded humanoid robot maker on China’s A-share market under ticker 688836.
Unitree’s listing follows ChangXin Memory Technologies on the STAR Market, Shanghai’s technology-focused board sometimes called China’s Nasdaq. The debut comes as Chinese regulators actively support fundraising for AI, robotics, and semiconductor companies.
A Profitable Outlier in Robotics
Unlike many humanoid robot companies that remain in the red, Unitree is one of the few profitable in the sector. The Hangzhou-based firm posted revenue of 1.7 billion yuan last year with net profit of 591 million yuan. Its gross margin for core business hit 60.13 percent, according to Gasgoo.
However, first-half 2026 revenue growth decelerated sharply to about 40 percent from 332 percent a year earlier, while adjusted net profit was expected to decline 6 to 22 percent year-on-year, weighed down by rising R&D and sales expenses.
Embodied intelligence needs a ChatGPT moment, Unitree founder and CEO Wang Xingxing has said, framing the company’s push toward mass-market humanoid robots.
Wider Robotics Wave
Unitree’s successful debut is expected to accelerate IPO plans across China’s robotics ecosystem. AgiBot, which received investment from LG Electronics, is preparing a Hong Kong listing. DeepRobotics is pursuing a STAR Market listing, while Leju Robotics targets Shenzhen’s ChiNext board.
Eighty-five percent of the IPO proceeds are earmarked for R&D, according to BigGo Finance. The debut marks a critical milestone for China’s push to establish globally competitive humanoid robotics companies.
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