Shares of Unitree Robotics, China's best-known maker of humanoid robots, surged as much as 629% above their initial public offering price in their trading debut Wednesday on Shanghai's STAR Market, before paring gains to close 460% higher at 845 yuan. The closing price valued the company at roughly $50 billion, according to Reuters, with the stock briefly touching a market capitalization as high as $66 billion during intraday trading.
The Hangzhou-based company, officially known as Yushu Technology Co., raised approximately 6.1 billion yuan ($905 million) in the offering, pricing shares at 150.80 yuan each and overshooting its initial fundraising target of 4.2 billion yuan. The listing marks the first time a humanoid robot maker has gone public on a mainland Chinese stock exchange, and the online portion of the offering aimed at retail investors was more than 8,000 times oversubscribed.
Founded in 2016 by 36-year-old entrepreneur Wang Xingxing, Unitree has built global recognition for its four-legged robotic dogs and humanoid robots capable of performing backflips, martial arts routines and dance sequences, footage of which has circulated widely online, including at China's annual Spring Festival Gala broadcast. The company's IPO backers include Chinese artificial intelligence firm DeepSeek, which invested about 140.8 million yuan according to a company filing, alongside existing investors Tencent and food-delivery giant Meituan, Unitree's largest outside shareholder.
Wednesday's debut created substantial paper wealth for early stakeholders. Wang's roughly 121.4 million shares put his net worth above 107 billion yuan following the listing. The first-day gain exceeded the average opening-day pop of 279% for new listings in China so far this year, and came even as China's benchmark stock index fell 3% on the same day, underscoring the intensity of investor demand specifically for the robotics offering.
Unitree's financial performance remains modest relative to its new valuation. The company's revenue more than quadrupled in 2025 to 1.7 billion yuan ($252 million), though it remains unprofitable as it continues to invest heavily in research and manufacturing capacity. Proceeds from the IPO are earmarked for advanced robotics research and development and expansion of the company's manufacturing operations, with a stated goal of reaching annual production capacity of 190,000 robots.
Unitree competes globally with companies including Tesla, which has its own humanoid robot program, and Hyundai Motor Group-owned Boston Dynamics, according to Reuters. Industry analysts noted that despite the surging valuations attached to humanoid robot makers, most such robots remain primarily used for demonstrations, performances and research applications rather than large-scale commercial deployment. Morningstar analyst Kangyuxiao Li said the real competitive test will be whether companies can achieve reliable performance and attractive returns in large-scale industrial and commercial settings.
The blockbuster debut adds to a wave of investor enthusiasm for Chinese technology and robotics companies this year, and comes as global markets separately grapple with a selloff in semiconductor stocks and surging government bond yields, highlighting how unevenly investor risk appetite has been distributed across different corners of the technology sector.