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Shares of Chinese humanoid robotmaker Unitree Robotics surged 460.34 per cent on their first day of trading on Shanghai's STAR Market, highlighting strong investor confidence and, according to a Chinese technology expert, the viability of China's "hard-tech" strategy.
The successful debut was highlighted by Chinese Embassy in India spokesperson Yu Jing in a post on X on Wednesday, noting that Unitree's shares ended the day up 460.34 per cent on the exchange's sci-tech innovation board. According to a news report by The Global Times, Unitree shares opened at 1,100 yuan (USD 162.22), up 629.44 per cent from the issue price of 150.80 yuan (USD 22.24), before closing at 844.80 yuan (USD 124.59). The closing price gave the company a market capitalisation of 341.77 billion yuan (about USD 50.68 billion). The company issued 40.45 million shares, or 10 per cent of its post-issue share capital, raising around 6.099 billion yuan (USD 899.45 million). The IPO also drew record retail interest, with 9.7846 million valid subscription accounts, the highest for an IPO since the STAR Market was launched, the Global Times reported. The report quoted Chen Jing, vice president of the Technology and Strategy Research Institute, as saying the market response showed "extreme enthusiasm" for the embodied intelligence sector, driven by the scarcity of humanoid robot stocks and investor sentiment. Unitree's prospectus showed that its humanoid robot shipments exceeded 5,500 units in 2025, giving it a 32.4 per cent global market share and the top position worldwide, the report said. More than 90 per cent of its core components are self-developed and self-produced. The company's revenue rose from 159 million yuan (USD 23.45 million) in 2023 to 1.699 billion yuan in 2025 (USD 250.56 million), while it moved from a loss of 18.02 million yuan (USD 2.66 million) to a profit of 591 million yuan (USD 87.16 million) during the period. Chen said Unitree's listing has also provided a pricing reference for future robotics IPOs and could support the shift of embodied intelligence from laboratory demonstrations towards wider commercial use. However, he cautioned that long-term success would depend on converting market enthusiasm into technological progress and commercial implementation. The company has also identified risks including slower growth, operating performance fluctuations and its research and development strategy falling short of expectations, the Global Times reported. Chen said Unitree's capitalisation path had shown that China's hard-tech approach was viable, giving technology companies greater confidence to address shortcomings and plan for the long term. (ANI)
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