Humanoid-maker Unitree surges more than 500% on Shanghai debut

Shanghai: Shares of Chinese humanoid-robot maker Unitree Robotics surged more than 500% in their Shanghai debut on Wednesday, underscoring the extraordinary investor enthusiasm surrounding China's push into artificial intelligence, robotics and so-called “physical AI.”

Unitree, formally known as Hangzhou Yushu Technology, began trading on the Shanghai Stock Exchange's STAR Market on Aug. 19.

It had priced its initial public offering at 150.80 yuan ($21) a share and raised about 6.1 billion yuan ($905 million), giving the company an initial valuation of roughly 61 billion yuan ($9 billion).

The debut caps a frenzy of demand.

Retail investors had subscribed for Unitree's IPO more than 8,000 times the shares available to them, one of the strongest signals yet of speculative appetite for China's rapidly developing robotics industry.

Founded in Hangzhou in 2016 by Wang Xingxing, Unitree first became known internationally for relatively affordable four-legged robots.

It later expanded into humanoid machines capable of walking, running, dancing, performing martial-arts movements and other increasingly complex tasks.

The company has become one of the most visible representatives of China's ambition to commercialize embodied AI — machines that can perceive their surroundings, make decisions and physically interact with the real world.

Ahead of the listing, Unitree unveiled a new humanoid called “Superman,” which the company says can run at up to 12.66 meters per second and jump vertically about 2 meters. The demonstration was designed to showcase the speed and agility of China's rapidly advancing robotics sector.

Unitree's IPO is also significant because it is the first general-purpose humanoid robotics company to list on mainland China's stock market, giving investors a direct publicly traded bet on the country's humanoid-robot industry.