Unitree Robotics, based in Hangzhou, began trading on the Shanghai STAR Market on Wednesday. In the first hour of trading the company's shares jumped roughly 542 percent and briefly reached 1,100 yuan. According to the prospectus, the IPO raised about 6.1 billion yuan in capital.
DeepSeek, a Chinese artificial intelligence company, participated in the offering with an investment of approximately 140.8 million yuan. Previous investors in Unitree include the technology giant Tencent.
Products and the "Superman" demonstration
Unitree produces both bipedal humanoid robots and quadruped machines. The bipedal models are equipped with precise manipulators for handling objects, while the four-legged robots are primarily deployed for tasks such as hazard reconnaissance.
On the Monday before the listing the company revealed its latest humanoid, nicknamed "Superman." Unitree demonstrated that the robot can jump two metres from a standing start and can run at a top speed of 12.66 metres per second, according to the company's figures.
Market context and forecasts
Unitree is the latest high-profile Chinese tech company to attract attention on the STAR market; for comparison, shares of CXMT, a memory-chip maker, rose 466 percent on their first trading day last month.
In June, Morgan Stanley raised its forecast for Chinese humanoid robot shipments this year to 50,000 units, up from a previous estimate of 28,000. The bank's analysts project the Chinese humanoid-robot market could expand from about $2 billion today to $15 billion by 2030. Full-size humanoid robots may account for roughly 30 percent of shipments this year, rising to an estimated 70 percent by 2028.
Why it matters
Unitree's dramatic market debut and the public showcase of a humanoid capable of high jumps and high-speed running underscore rapid technical progress and growing investor interest in Chinese robotics. Advances in locomotion and manipulation expand potential industrial, logistics, and research applications and help attract capital for further development.
Legal note
This article does not constitute investment advice or a recommendation. An AI assistant contributed to the preparation of this piece; a journalist edited and verified the final content.
