China's Humanoid Robot Maker Unitree Soars 460% in Blockbuster Shanghai IPO

Unitree Robotics surged more than 460% in its Shanghai debut, valuing the world's biggest humanoid robot maker at roughly $50 billion.

Unitree Robotics — the Hangzhou firm behind China's backflipping, kung-fu-performing humanoids — rocketed more than 460% in its Shanghai stock-market debut Wednesday, becoming the first humanoid robot maker to list on a mainland Chinese exchange.

Shares offered at 150.80 yuan ($22) closed at 845 yuan after touching 1,100 yuan intraday, a 629% surge that values the company at roughly $50 billion. Founder and CEO Wang Xingxing, who owns about a fifth of the firm he started in 2016, saw his paper wealth top $12 billion.

The listing caps a breakout run: Unitree shipped more than 5,500 humanoid robots last year and is one of the few robot makers in the black, posting 278 million yuan in 2025 net profit. On Monday it unveiled its "Superman" robot, which it says can leap more than 6.5 feet and top 28 miles per hour — faster than Usain Bolt's 100-meter record pace.

The frenzy lands in the middle of a US-China contest over the technology. Washington banned imports of foreign-made humanoid robots last month and the Pentagon added Unitree to a Chinese military companies list in June; the US accounted for about 13% of Unitree's $250 million in revenue last year. Unitree and rival AgiBot together shipped more than 70% of the roughly 13,000 humanoid robots delivered globally last year, according to market researcher Omdia.

Sources: NBC News | BBC | CNBC