From Air-Conditioner Motors to Humanoid-Robot Components: Jiangsu Leili’s 33-Year Evolution

Jiangsu Leili’s transformation is best understood not as a move away from motors, but as a move into more demanding applications for the same underlying capabilities. Founded in Changzhou in 1993, the company began with micro-motors for appliances and reached ¥4.18 billion in 2025 revenue. By then, home appliances represented 55.09% of sales, compared with 22.48% for automotive, 12.83% for industrial control and 6.51% for medical and sports-health products. 12

The company’s newer robotics business grew 157.62% year over year in 2025, but generated ¥24.66 million—still small beside total revenue. That distinction matters: Leili has established a credible component and dexterous-hand position, but robotics had not yet become the company’s primary commercial engine. 68

The original advantage: solving a motor-import problem

Su Jianguo established Leili’s predecessor factory in 1993, as split air conditioners were expanding in China. At the time, the relevant stepper motors were imported amid technology restrictions. Drawing on technical personnel from a Changzhou state-owned enterprise, Leili developed its first air-conditioner motor. 173

That beginning created the company’s enduring operating model: identify a technically important motor, develop the engineering and manufacturing process locally, then scale through demanding customer relationships and volume production. The company remained focused on micro-motors rather than treating its first appliance products as a temporary stop on the way to another industry. 39

Appliance scale became a technology platform

For years, home appliances gave Leili a large-volume environment in which to develop process control, automation, quality management and customer qualification. The appliance business was also a relatively concentrated starting point for expanding into precision structures, transmissions and drive-control components.

By the time Leili listed on Shenzhen’s ChiNext board in 2017, the original market’s limitations were becoming more apparent: home-appliance motors were a mature, competitive category with limited pricing power, while automotive, medical and industrial-automation customers required greater precision and reliability. 17

The listing helped accelerate the next phase. Leili combined internal development with overseas manufacturing, joint ventures and acquisitions. It established production capacity in Vietnam in 2018; the Vietnam facility was later expanded, Mexico began production in 2025, and its Dingzhi subsidiary began building a Thai lead-screw-motor base in 2025. 52534

A deliberate route into automotive and medical markets

Leili’s expansion into higher-precision markets was staged rather than immediate. Management has described a model in which the company spends roughly two to three years preparing for a new sector before attempting a full commercial entry. That preparation includes product development, compliance, customer validation and reliability testing—requirements that make a direct jump from appliance supply difficult. 22

Automotive became one of the company’s most important diversification routes during the 2010s. Leili developed products for applications including vehicle air-conditioning and radar-drive systems, while using customer qualification and validation processes to build credibility in the sector. Automotive revenue reached ¥939.5 million, or 22.48% of total revenue, in 2025. 29

The medical strategy illustrates the same patience. In 2015, Leili began a small exploration with a French research team, but medical markets proved difficult to enter without the necessary qualifications and customer relationships. The more consequential step came in 2019, when Leili acquired Dingzhi Technology, bringing in medical credentials, products and market access. 22

Dingzhi’s portfolio includes lead-screw stepper motors used in in-vitro diagnostic equipment and voice-coil motors used in ventilator-related applications. Its broader precision-motion products serve areas such as IVD, point-of-care testing, analyzers, laboratory automation and diagnostic equipment. 2023

The business mix changed—and so did the economics

Before the listing, home appliances accounted for nearly 90% of Leili’s revenue, according to reporting on the company’s evolution. By 2025, that share had fallen to 55.09%. Automotive, industrial control and medical products together accounted for more than 40% of reported revenue. 117

The shift was not only about reducing dependence on one customer group. It also aimed to move Leili toward products where precision, reliability and customization mattered more. In 2025, the reported gross margin for industrial-control motors and components was 39.67%, while medical and sports-health motors and components recorded a 31.93% gross margin. These figures help explain the strategic attraction of higher-precision applications, although they do not by themselves guarantee that every new business will be equally profitable. 1

Acquisitions expanded Leili from components to motion systems

Dingzhi gave Leili a stronger position in precision motors, lead screws, voice coils and medical motion control. Other investments and acquisitions added capabilities in areas such as precision casting, gears and industrial control. The result was a broader product platform rather than a portfolio of unrelated bets. 520

Today, the company’s stated and reported product range includes hollow-cup motors, precision gearboxes, T-type and ball screws, planetary roller screws, frameless torque motors, linear actuators, encoders and intelligent-control components. In robotics, these products map onto three major motion areas: linear joints, rotary joints and dexterous hands. 101134

That systems approach is important. A motor alone produces motion, but a usable robotic joint also needs transmission, sensing, control and mechanical integration. Leili’s strategy has been to accumulate more of those layers so it can supply components, assemblies and customized motion-control solutions rather than only a single commodity part. 1134

Why hollow-cup motors matter for dexterous hands

Dingzhi has developed hollow-cup motors ranging from 6 millimeters to 42 millimeters and reported automated production of the critical coil-winding process. Small motors with fast response and high precision are particularly relevant to dexterous hands, where multiple compact actuators must fit into a lightweight mechanism. 1336

Leili has also developed dexterous hands through its investment in Zhongke Lingxi, which draws on research from the University of Science and Technology of China. The company has demonstrated both linkage-driven and rope-driven designs, with reported versions offering 18 and 22 degrees of freedom respectively. The products combine multiple motors with sensing and control systems to support tasks such as grasping, typing and piano-playing demonstrations. 813

Those demonstrations show what the component stack can enable, but they should not be confused with proof of large-scale humanoid-robot demand. In 2025, Leili’s robot-related revenue was only ¥24.66 million, despite its rapid year-on-year growth. The more defensible conclusion is that the company had reached an early commercial and supply-chain stage, while the scale of the opportunity remained unproven. 68

The strategic lesson: deepen one capability before changing markets

Leili’s history suggests a repeatable pattern:

1. Solve a concrete technical bottleneck. Its first air-conditioner motor addressed dependence on imported components.
2. Build scale in a demanding mass market. Appliances provided volume, process discipline and customer experience.
3. Reuse the technical base in adjacent sectors. Automotive and medical products required greater reliability, precision and qualification.
4. Use acquisitions to shorten the learning curve. Dingzhi supplied medical qualifications, products and customer access that would have taken years to build independently.
5. Add adjacent layers of the motion stack. Motors, transmissions, screws, actuators, sensors and controls can be combined into more valuable assemblies.
6. Treat robotics as an extension, not a reset. Hollow-cup motors and dexterous hands are the latest applications of a long-established precision-motion capability.

This explains how a small Changzhou motor workshop became a diversified manufacturer without abandoning its original identity. Appliance scale financed the journey; staged market entry limited the risk of premature diversification; and targeted investment and acquisition filled capability gaps. The current robotics opportunity is therefore best viewed as the latest test of Leili’s accumulated engineering and manufacturing platform—not yet as the finished story of a humanoid-robot company.