Unitree's Record IPO Oversubscribed 8,000 Times as Humanoid Robot Maker Set for Shanghai Debut

Unitree Robotics, the world's largest humanoid robot maker by sales, is set to begin trading in Shanghai on Wednesday after its initial public offering raised 6.1 billion yuan ($904 million) and was oversubscribed more than 8,000 times, according to CNN and a Bloomberg summary. The oversubscription rate marks a record for Shanghai's tech-focused STAR market, which is seen as China's version of the Nasdaq.

The listing makes Unitree the first publicly traded humanoid robot maker in mainland China, the Bloomberg summary reported. Other Chinese android firms, including UBTECH and Dobot, have been trading in Hong Kong, while Agibot is pursuing an IPO in that city, CNN reported.

On Monday, the Hangzhou-based company unveiled a new humanoid robot dubbed "Superman" which it said can jump as high as two meters and run at a speed of 12.66 meters per second, CNN reported.

Founded in 2016, Unitree shot to national prominence after its robots performed in the annual Lunar New Year gala last year with choreographed dancing. The company has since emerged as a key strategic firm in China's ambition to dominate future technology. Founder Wang Xingxing sat in the front row at President Xi Jinping's rare symposium with top tech businesses last year, according to CNN.

China has bet billions of dollars on humanoid robots as the next disruptive product, seeing them as the "new high ground of technological competition and a fresh frontier for future industries," according to a 2023 policy document cited by CNN.

**Strong financials but early-stage industrial adoption**

Unitree's revenue skyrocketed more than 10 times to nearly 1.7 billion yuan ($252 million) in 2025, its prospectus showed, according to CNN. The company is one of the few in the field that has achieved profitability, delivering a net profit of 278 million yuan ($41 million) last year.

Last year, it delivered more than 5,500 humanoid robots across the world, becoming the world's largest seller of androids, CNN reported. Chinese firms accounted for the vast majority of global android deliveries last year, far outpacing American competitors like Tesla, Figure AI and Boston Dynamics.

However, CNN reported that the technology remains under both hardware and software constraints, with bipedal robots still years away from full-scale deployment. Research and educational institution use accounted for the majority of Unitree's sales, while industrial deployments remained less than 10% in the first three quarters of 2025, its earlier filing showed.

"Unitree has demonstrated strong technology and commercial traction, but moving from demonstrations and early deployments to widespread industrial adoption will take time," Kangyuxiao Li, equity analyst at Morningstar, told CNN.

Proceeds from the IPO will be used for research and development of embodied AI models and robot hardware, as well as factory expansion, according to its prospectus as reported by CNN.

**Analysts flag hardware reliance and US headwinds**

"Unitree IPO is regarded as a key milestone for the humanoid industry and can serve as a benchmark for other IPOs in the pipeline," Ethan Qi, associate director at Counterpoint Research, told CNN.

But Qi cautioned that Unitree's edge appears to rely mostly on hardware and motion control capability, and that the company needs to boost investment in embodied AI models, which serve as the machines' brains. In an apparent bid to address this, a partnership between Unitree and US tech giant Nvidia was announced in June for research and development, CNN reported.

Beyond technology, CNN reported that Unitree faces mounting US restrictions. In June, the company was added to the US government's blacklist of Chinese military-linked companies and barred from doing business with the Pentagon. Last month, Washington banned new humanoid and quadruped robot imports from foreign manufacturers, calling them a national security risk – a move aimed at China.

While the restrictions do not cover existing models approved for sale in the US, over 40% of Unitree's revenue is generated overseas, according to CNN. The company stated in its prospectus that it "may be unable to sustain rapid growth in overseas sales and could even see its performance decline" if the US continues to impose restrictions.

BofA Global Research's Ming Lee, head of Greater China autos and industrials research, told CNN that Unitree also needs to demonstrate successful deployment across various industry applications and build up its embodied AI system.

Unitree is backed by well-known Chinese companies including Meituan, Tencent, Alibaba, and AI startup DeepSeek. Besides humanoid robots, the firm also makes quadruped robots, known as robot dogs, which accounted for about 42% of its revenue last year, CNN reported.