Unitree Robotics, the world’s biggest humanoid robot maker, made a stunning stock market debut on the Shanghai Stock Exchange on Wednesday.
Shares in the Chinese firm opened at 1,100 yuan, or approximately $163, well above the offer price of 150.8 yuan per share.
By market close, shares had gained 460%, capping a dramatic first day of trading for the Hangzhou-based robotics company.
Unitree raised 6.1 billion yuan, roughly $905 million, in its initial public offering, which was oversubscribed more than 8,000 times.
That oversubscription figure set a record for Shanghai’s tech-focused STAR market, which is widely regarded as China’s answer to the Nasdaq.
The company, founded in 2016 by entrepreneur Wang Xingxing, is now the first publicly traded humanoid robotics maker in mainland China.
Analysts believe the IPO could set a precedent for valuations of other robotic company stock offerings going forward.
Unitree is backed by major Chinese investors including internet giants Alibaba (BABA) and Tencent (TCEHY), as well as artificial intelligence firm DeepSeek.
Just days before its debut, Unitree unveiled a new humanoid robot called “Superman,” touting it as able to jump as high as two metres and run as fast as 12.66 metres per second.
The company reported approximately 1.7 billion yuan, or around $250 million, in revenue in 2025, primarily from sales of humanoid and quadruped robots.
More than 40% of that revenue came from overseas markets, with the United States accounting for roughly 13% of Unitree’s total revenue last year.
However, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission banned imports of new foreign-made humanoid and quadruped robots in July on national security grounds, complicating Unitree’s access to American customers.
Unitree’s debut also bucked broader weakness in Chinese equities, as both the Shanghai Composite and Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 fell more than 2% each on Wednesday.
UBTech, another major Chinese humanoid robot maker with shares traded in Hong Kong, saw its stock fall more than 10% on the same day.
The listing marks a milestone for Beijing’s broader ambitions in robotics, a sector at the center of an intensifying technology rivalry between China and the United States.
China currently leads the U.S. in production capacity of humanoid robots and the ability to scale up manufacturing operations.
Major global companies including Tesla (TSLA), BYD, and Amazon (AMZN) are also developing two-legged machines capable of performing tasks typically carried out by people.
Christine Wan from the Peterson Institute for International Economics warned that Chinese firms are becoming more “deeply embedded” in global manufacturing supply chains.
“Other countries may be reluctant to sharply reduce their reliance on Chinese suppliers if doing so would significantly disrupt domestic manufacturing,” Wan said.
Unitree’s trading debut coincided with the World Robot Conference in Beijing, which featured more than 300 exhibitors showcasing advances in the global robotics industry.
