Unitree Robotics Passes IPO Review, Eyes Humanoid Stock

Chinese humanoid robotics leader Unitree Robotics has passed its initial public offering (IPO) review on the Shanghai Stock Exchange’s STAR Market, bringing the company one step closer to becoming the first pure-play humanoid robot stock on the A-share market. The listing committee approved Unitree’s application on June 1, just 73 days after the exchange formally accepted it on March 20, marking one of the fastest IPO reviews on the STAR Market in recent years, according to Xinhua News.

A Landmark for China’s Humanoid Robotics Industry

Unitree’s rapid path to listing reflects both the company’s strong financial trajectory and the Chinese capital market’s growing appetite for artificial intelligence hardware. The company, founded in 2016 by Wang Xingxing, initially specialized in quadruped robots before launching its first humanoid robot in 2023. That pivot has proven transformative: humanoid robots accounted for 51.5% of total revenue in the first nine months of 2025, overtaking quadruped robots for the first time, as reported by Business Times/Caixin.

Unitree shipped over 5,500 pure humanoid robots in 2025, and its financial performance has improved dramatically. Revenue surged from 159 million yuan in 2023 to 1.699 billion yuan in 2025, while the company turned profitable in 2024 with a net income of 95.47 million yuan, reaching 278 million yuan in net profit the following year. Gross margins reached 59.4% in the first nine months of 2025, with humanoid robots commanding an impressive 62.9% margin.

Record-Breaking IPO Timeline

The speed of Unitree’s IPO review is itself a story. The company’s application was accepted on March 20, and it passed the listing committee on June 1 — a 73-day sprint that Lianhe Zaobao reports is the fastest IPO review on the STAR Market in recent years. Unitree is the second company to go through the STAR Market’s “pre-review” mechanism, a reform introduced by the China Securities Regulatory Commission in June 2025 to fast-track high-quality tech companies.

Unitree plans to raise 42.02 billion yuan (approximately US$6.2 billion) by issuing at least a 10% stake. The funds will be allocated to intelligent robot model research and development (over 2 billion yuan), robot body R&D, new product development, and a manufacturing base construction project.

The Embodied AI Boom

Unitree’s IPO comes amid an extraordinary surge in China’s embodied AI sector — robots integrated with artificial intelligence. According to IT Juzi data cited by Xinhua, Chinese embodied AI startups secured 218 investments totaling over 57.7 billion yuan in the first five months of 2026, already surpassing total investment for all of 2025.

“Unitree’s accelerated IPO is not surprising,” an investment banker told Caixin. “There is a limited supply of AI-related targets in the A-share market, and embodied AI is currently the absolute hot spot.”

Profitability in a Sea of Red

Despite the sector’s explosive growth, Unitree stands out as one of the few profitable companies in China’s humanoid robotics space. A deep analysis from OFWeek Robot Network coins the term “profitability loneliness” (盈利孤独症) to describe Unitree’s unique position: it is one of the very few profitable companies in a highly hyped but mostly loss-making sector.

However, the company faces headwinds. Its first-quarter 2026 net profit (deducted non-recurring) declined 52.55% year-on-year to approximately 40.25 million yuan, driven by increased research and development spending and marketing costs, including expenses related to the Spring Festival Gala performances that brought Unitree national fame.

What’s Next

With the listing committee’s approval secured, the China Securities Regulatory Commission now has 20 working days to make a final registration decision. If approved, Unitree will list on the STAR Market, setting a valuation benchmark for the entire Chinese humanoid robotics sector.

Competitors including CloudMinds, Yuejiang, and Leju Robotics are also preparing for public listings, but Unitree’s first-mover advantage in both profitability and regulatory approval gives it a significant edge. The company’s ability to sustain its growth trajectory as competition intensifies and R&D costs rise will be the key question for investors watching China’s most exciting tech sector.

Founder Wang Xingxing, a post-90s entrepreneur who controls nearly 69% of voting rights, has built Unitree from a quadruped robot startup into a company that is now on the verge of making history. Major backers include Meituan, HongShan Capital Group (formerly Sequoia China), and MPCi. The coming weeks will determine whether Unitree can complete its journey from Hangzhou startup to the first publicly traded pure-play humanoid robot company in China.