Unitree shares soar over 600% in Shanghai debut

Unitree shares surged over 600 percent on their Shanghai debut on August 19 after the Chinese robotics company raised more than $900 million in its initial public offering.

The Hangzhou-based humanoid robot maker's stock rose as much as 629 percent to 1,100 yuan at the open, compared with an offering price of 150.80 yuan. The shares later pared gains to around 900 yuan.

Unitree listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange's tech-focused STAR market. The company has become closely associated with China's push to develop its robotics industry, supported by government backing and domestic supply chains.

The company unveiled a humanoid robot called “Superman” on August 17 and said it could jump as high as two metres and run as fast as 12.66 metres per second.

Renjie Guo, founder and chief executive of robotics engineering company Zeroth, said Unitree products are used by domestic academics and by US tech companies including Nvidia, Google and Amazon. He said Unitree had formed an ecosystem that allowed others to build developments on top of its products.

The Chinese government has designated robotics a strategic industry and says that by last year more than 140 Chinese companies had launched more than 330 humanoid robot models. Robotics companies are investing in physical AI, technology that allows robots to move and interact with the world autonomously.

The sector has become another front in the US-China technology race. Washington added Unitree in June to a list of companies it accused of aiding the Chinese military. In July, the Trump administration added humanoid and quadruped robots, including from China, to a list of products and companies banned from import into the United States on national security grounds.

Tianyu Zang, a partner at Beijing-based venture capital firm Jinqiu Capital, said Unitree's IPO was a “primary school graduation ceremony” moment for China's humanoid robotics industry and that the sector now faced a longer and more rigorous test.