Chinese Robot Firm's Shanghai Listing Values It at $9 Billion

Unitree Sets Its IPO Price

Hangzhou-based Unitree makes robots that can run, dance, and do acrobatics. Now it is stepping onto a different stage: China's stock market.

The valuation is also above the 50 billion yuan target Reuters reported in September.

The higher valuation is a sign of how much interest the deal is drawing. Unitree is selling 40.45 million newly issued shares on Shanghai's STAR Market.

Because the shares are new, the money goes to the company rather than to existing owners cashing out. Those shares represent 10% of the company after the deal.

The IPO proceeds will go toward robot software and hardware development, new product launches, and construction of a manufacturing base.

The filing also names DeepSeek, the Chinese AI firm, as one of the IPO's strategic investors.

Revenue Is Booming, but Costs Are Rising

The financial picture explains why investors care. Unitree's 2025 revenue reached 1.7 billion yuan, more than four times the prior year's total.

Humanoid robots did the heavy lifting.

Their sales hit 867.8 million yuan, which made them the largest product line and pushed four-legged robots into second place. That matters for a company that built its name on four-legged machines.

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Humanoid robots are not just a stunt anymore; they are the business.

The momentum is still there. In the first quarter, revenue rose 68.5%.

That put quarterly revenue at 422.8 million yuan. Profit tells a different story.

Once you strip out one-time gains and charges, profit fell 52.6%.

That leaves profit at 40.3 million yuan. The reason is simple: Unitree spent more on research and development and marketing.

Fast-growing companies often make this trade.

Sales go up, spending goes up faster, and investors have to decide whether the spending will pay off later.

The U.S. Market Is the Wild Card

The tricky part is the United States. Unitree has approval to sell its current humanoid and four-legged robots there, but future models could be shut out.

The U.S. market is already meaningful.

The prospectus names the risks in blunt terms: American tariffs, federal procurement limits, export controls, or losing current approvals.

Any one of those could hurt overseas growth or disrupt supplies of imported parts.

Washington has made it harder for Chinese firms to reach U.S. technology and markets. New curbs target humanoid and four-legged robots made abroad.

Beijing has answered with export controls and sanctions on certain U.S. entities. That puts Unitree in the middle of a two-way trade fight.

The same fight can hit the supply chain. If restrictions cut off imported parts, the whole business feels it.

For investors, this IPO is a chance to buy into a company with real momentum. But for your portfolio, the bigger question is whether that momentum can survive the political crossfire.

The company's own filing points to a real risk. August 10 is when the market starts to put a number on it.

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