The Chinese manufacturer of humanoid and quadrupedal robots made its debut on the Shanghai Stock Exchange this Wednesday with an initial surge of 629%, closing its first session 460% above the offering price. Behind this stock market euphoria lies an industry that China has made one of its technological priorities.
China has been gaining ground for years in industries it considers strategic. It has done so with solar panels, achieved a dominant position in batteries and electric vehicles, and competes with the United States in artificial intelligence and drones. Robotics has now entered this race, and the stock market debut of Unitree Robotics offers a measure of the interest the sector is generating among Chinese investors.
The Hangzhou-based company began trading this Wednesday on the STAR Market of the Shanghai Stock Exchange, a market specialized in technology companies. The shares were initially priced at 150.8 yuan but opened at 1,100 yuan, a 629% rise. Following this initial jump, the stock price moderated and ended the day at 845 yuan, still representing an appreciation of around 460% compared to the initial public offering price.
This operation allowed Unitree to raise about 6.1 billion yuan, approximately $900 million. The company also became the first specialized manufacturer of humanoid robots to enter the Chinese A-share market, after an especially rapid IPO process.
From robotic dogs to humanoids
Unitree was founded in 2016 in Hangzhou by Wang Xingxing and initially focused on developing quadrupedal robots. Over time, it expanded its catalog to include robotic arms, components, and humanoid robots, an activity that has increasingly gained importance within its business.
The company also achieved something unusual in an industry where many firms are still in stages of heavy investment and losses. In 2025, it reported revenues of 1.699 billion yuan, up from 393 million the previous year, and a net profit of approximately 278 million yuan, according to information released during its IPO process.
The growth has coincided with the shift from labs and demonstrations to early large-scale production. Unitree confirmed earlier this year that during 2025 it sold and delivered more than 5,500 humanoid robots to end customers and produced over 6,500 units. The company made this clarification after various figures regarding its sales circulated, specifying that these numbers did not include two-arm wheeled robots or other types of machines.
Quadrupeds still hold significant weight in its business. The company has used a pricing strategy lower than some Western competitors to expand the potential market for these devices. This ability to manufacture at larger scales and reduce costs is one of the key advantages the Chinese industry is now trying to transfer to robotics.
China turns robots into a strategic industry
The growth of Unitree cannot be understood solely as the story of a technology company. It is part of a broader industrial push involving manufacturers, universities, private investors, and public administration.
China has positioned robotics and what is known as embodied AI among the technologies it considers strategic. The aim combines different needs: to increase industrial productivity, reduce dependence on foreign technologies, and seek solutions in response to an aging population and the future reduction of the workforce.
In this process, cities like Hangzhou, Shenzhen, Shanghai, and Beijing are developing ecosystems where component manufacturers, artificial intelligence companies, and robotics firms can operate within close supply chains. Unitree benefits from this environment and also has investors linked to some of the main technology firms in the country.
The company gained international visibility through demonstrations of its robots. Its humanoids have participated in television choreographies and martial arts exhibitions, while its quadrupeds have gained widespread attention on social media. These demonstrations have served as a commercial showcase, although the development of a mass market for humanoid robots remains a different challenge.
From spectacle to factories
This is precisely one of the questions that accompany Unitree’s high stock valuation. The industry has developed machines capable of walking, running, manipulating certain objects, or performing increasingly complex movements, but turning these capabilities into economically viable and reliable applications remains one of its main challenges.
Many of Unitree’s buyers thus far have been universities, research centers, and companies using its robots to develop their own applications. The leap to mass utilization in factories, warehouses, services, or homes will depend on improvements in autonomy, safety, artificial intelligence, manipulation capability, and costs.
The stock’s performance during its debut reflects very high expectations about that future. Even after retreating from the 1,100 yuan reached at the beginning of the day, Unitree closed at 845 yuan, several times above the 150.8 yuan set for the IPO. The difference necessitates distinguishing between the company’s actual growth and the expectations that the market is incorporating into its valuation.
Another technological front between China and the United States
Unitree’s international expansion is also taking place in a context of increasing technological rivalry. More than 40% of the company’s revenues came from abroad in 2025, making access to other markets a significant part of its strategy.
The United States has ramped up restrictions on certain technologies and Chinese companies related to advanced robotics. Unitree has been included by the U.S. Department of Defense among the firms considered part of the Chinese military-industrial complex, a characterization the company rejects as it presents itself as a civilian manufacturer. The new U.S. restrictions on advanced robots made abroad may also hinder its future expansion in that market.
Robotics is thus beginning to follow a familiar path seen in other industries: business competition, public support, trade restrictions, and concerns over control of technologies deemed strategic.
Unitree’s debut in Shanghai does not yet demonstrate that humanoid robots are set to become a mass-market product in the short term. However, it does show that China is building around them an industry with manufacturers capable of producing thousands of units, proprietary supply chains, and increasingly access to funding.
The question will be whether this combination allows for a trajectory similar to those the country has previously followed in other sectors: to move from competing primarily through costs and manufacturing capability to also holding a relevant position in technology development and the global market.
