SHANGHAI/BEIJING, Aug. 19 (Xinhua) -- China's Unitree Robotics on Wednesday became the first humanoid robot maker listed on the A-share market, marking a significant step for the country's humanoid robot industry as it moves from technology accumulation to scaled and commercialized development.
The company's shares surged 629.44 percent to open at 1,100 yuan (about 161.99 U.S. dollars) each in its debut on the Shanghai Stock Exchange's sci-tech innovation board, or the STAR Market.
The stock closed at 845 yuan, up 460.34 percent from the initial public offering price.
"Unitree's move toward the capital market sends an important signal: humanoid robotics and embodied AI are moving beyond technology development, competition-based validation and product iteration toward industrialization, scalability and broader recognition from the capital market," said Zhou Changjiu, president of the RoboCup Asia-Pacific Confederation.
"It is not only a significant step for the company, but also an encouraging development for China's robotics and embodied AI industry," Zhou added.
The Hangzhou-based company offered about 40.45 million shares at 150.8 yuan each, representing a price-to-earnings ratio of 219.23.
According to its prospectus, the company's humanoid robot shipments surpassed 5,500 units in 2025, ranking first globally with a 32.4 percent share of the world market, while its cumulative quadruped robot shipments exceeded 33,000 units, with a global market share of nearly 60 percent.
Founded in 2016, Unitree has emerged as one of China's leading robotics firms, specializing in quadruped and humanoid robots and developing fully self-developed core components, including motors, reducers, controllers, and LiDAR.
Benefiting from the gradual expansion of downstream application scenarios for humanoid robots and sustained market demand, the company posted revenue of about 1.15 billion yuan in the first half of 2026, up 48.54 percent year on year.
With scaled deployment in scientific research and education, industrial inspection, security patrol and emergency rescue, Unitree's products have entered markets in dozens of countries and regions, according to the company.
Unitree said the funds raised will be put toward intelligent robot model development, robot hardware R&D, new product development and manufacturing base construction, as the business moves from robot manufacturing toward building a broader ecosystem for high-performance general-purpose robots.
"By leveraging the capital market, we will further strengthen our capabilities, develop better products and make greater contributions to society," Unitree founder Wang Xingxing was quoted by Shanghai Securities News as saying.
Ahead of its market debut, Unitree on Monday unveiled its new humanoid robot "Superman," developed in just over three months. The robot, which has a leg length of 0.85 meters, can achieve a standing high jump of two meters and a top sprinting speed of 12.66 meters per second, surpassing human records in both categories.
Unitree's listing comes as China's robotics sector gains global prominence. Chinese companies accounted for nearly 70 percent of global quadruped robot sales in the first half of 2026, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
Market forecasts point to continued growth. Global humanoid robot shipments are projected to exceed 510,000 units by 2030, growing at a compound annual rate of about 95 percent, according to market researcher International Data Corporation.
Chinese humanoid robots are increasingly being deployed across a wide range of sectors, including automotive manufacturing, consumer electronics, aviation, logistics and energy, according to research firm TrendForce.
TrendForce estimates that China's humanoid robot market will reach 15 billion yuan in 2026 and grow by at least 60 percent in 2027 as mass production expands and applications broaden.
The industry's momentum is on full display at the 2026 World Robot Conference (WRC). Opened in Beijing on Wednesday, the event features more than 300 exhibitors and over 2,000 exhibits under the theme "Human-Robot Symbiosis, Production-Demand Convergence." Visitors lined up to interact with the machines, which this year show markedly smoother human-machine interaction and greater real-world capabilities than before.
China's humanoid robot industry is entering a critical stage of large-scale commercialization and deployment, as embodied intelligence products move from small-batch trials to broader adoption, Xu Xiaolan, chairwoman of the Chinese Institute of Electronics, said at the 2026 WRC.
China's 15th Five-Year Plan calls for a forward-looking layout of future industries, including embodied artificial intelligence, as well as mechanisms to boost funding and share risks in these emerging sectors.
Against this policy backdrop, hard-tech companies have been joining the STAR Market at an accelerating pace, including Chinese memory chipmaker ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT), whose blockbuster debut last month made it the most valuable company listed on China's A-share market.
"The growing presence of hard-tech companies as new market entrants means the underlying logic of China's economic growth has fundamentally shifted, with technology becoming the main driver of growth," said Tian Lihui, head of the Institute of Financial Development at Nankai University. ■
