Unitree Robotics IPO: Everything You Need to Know About the $9 Billion Humanoid Robot Maker

After graduating in mid-2016, Wang briefly joined drone maker DJI as an engineer but resigned after about two months to start his own company . XDog had gained international media attention, and Wang rejected offers to sell the design . With help from an angel investor and roughly $12,000 in personal savings, Unitree was born .

The company initially specialized in quadruped robots (Go2, B2, A2 series) for consumer, research, and industrial use, and began producing humanoid robots in 2024 . The IPO makes the 36-year-old founder a billionaire with an estimated $2.4 billion fortune based on his ownership stake . Unitree's humanoid robots also performed at China's 2025 Spring Festival Gala, giving the company mainstream visibility .

IPO Financials

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Retail investors submitted 9.8 million orders worth about 8.1 trillion yuan ($1.2 trillion), exceeding the 7.1 trillion-yuan retail order book of memory chipmaker CXMT Corp's blockbuster offering the previous month . The lot-winning rate of approximately 0.018% meant only one in roughly 5,500 subscribers received shares, with some clawback of institutional shares into the retail tranche .

Revenue Breakdown & Profitability

Unitree's revenue trajectory has been dramatic, driven by a rapid shift from quadruped robots to humanoids:

• 2023: 159.1 million yuan (~$23.5M)
• 2024: 392.8 million yuan (~$58M)
• 2025: 1.70 billion yuan (~$253M) — a 335% year-on-year increase

Gross margin: Reached approximately 60% for full-year 2025; the humanoid division specifically posted 62.91% .

Profitability: Unitree turned profitable in 2025. Adjusted net profit attributable to shareholders reached approximately 600 million yuan (~$89M), making it one of the few profitable humanoid robot makers globally . Net profit under standard accounting was approximately 278–280 million yuan .

Revenue mix shift by product category:

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Humanoid robots became Unitree's largest revenue source for the first time in 2025, accounting for 51.5% of revenue in the first nine months, up from 27.6% in full-year 2024 . For full-year 2025, total humanoid robot revenue reached 868 million yuan, or 51.78% of main business income .

As of late 2025, cumulative sales reached 33,294 quadruped robots and 5,632 humanoid robots . Unitree shipped more than 5,500 humanoid robots in 2025, with approximately 70% exported to universities and research institutions for algorithm research and teaching . Overall, approximately 74% of humanoid revenue came from research and education buyers as of the prospectus data .

Overseas sales generated revenue of 731.66 million yuan in 2025, accounting for 43.65 percent of Unitree's main-business revenue .

Strategic Backers & Cornerstone Investors

A strong lineup of strategic investors participated in the IPO and pre-IPO rounds:

• DeepSeek — The AI startup invested 141 million yuan (~$20.8 million) as a strategic placement investor, acquiring a 2.31% stake with a three-year lock-up agreement. The partnership will co-develop AI models and embodied-intelligence technology
• Tencent Holdings — A pre-IPO backer also participating in the strategic placement
• China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) — State-owned energy giant
• China Southern Power Grid
• China Telecom
• Citic Securities
• National Council for Social Security Fund

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The strategic placement portion totaled about 8.08 million shares, accounting for 20% of the total shares issued . Meituan was also cited as Unitree's largest outside investor in earlier pre-IPO rounds .

Broader Market Impact

• First mainland-listed humanoid robot maker: Unitree's listing is a milestone for China's humanoid robotics sector, marking the first time a pure-play humanoid robot company has gone public on a Chinese mainland exchange .
• Valuation benchmark: The ~$9B valuation and 219x P/E multiple set a high watermark for the sector. Analysts drew comparisons to unprofitable Western peers like Figure AI, valued at $39B with no revenue .
• "Physical AI" catalyst: Market analysts see this as a major test of investor appetite for China's embodied-AI theme, where industrial chain strengths are being commercialized into physical-world AI applications .
• Ripple effect: The strong reception is expected to encourage other Chinese robotics firms — including Fourier Intelligence and Xiaomi's robotics unit — to accelerate their own listing plans on the STAR Market .

Key Headwinds: U.S. Restrictions

The available sources did not contain a dedicated deep-dive on U.S. export controls specifically targeting Unitree. However, several structural risks emerge from the broader U.S.-China tech decoupling context:

• Export controls on advanced chips: U.S. restrictions on the sale of high-end AI/GPU chips (e.g., NVIDIA H100/B200) to China could constrain Unitree's ability to source the most advanced processors needed for real-time humanoid robot AI inference and training.
• Potential entity list risk: As a high-profile Chinese robotics leader competing with Tesla and Boston Dynamics, Unitree could become a target for future U.S. Commerce Department Entity List designations, which would cut off access to U.S.-origin components and EDA software.
• Component dependency: Although Unitree designs its own actuators and control systems in-house , many precision components (sensors, encoders, high-end motors) still rely on global supply chains that U.S. restrictions could disrupt.
• Dual-use concerns: The U.S. government has increasingly scrutinized Chinese robotics and AI companies under national security and dual-use technology frameworks, and Unitree's high-profile IPO may draw additional regulatory attention.
• Overseas revenue risk: With overseas sales forming 43.65% of revenue in 2025 , any U.S.-led trade barriers could pressure Unitree's international business.

Note: The above headwinds are inferred from the broader U.S.-China tech decoupling context. No single source in the available evidence explicitly named Unitree in a specific U.S. sanctions action as of the search date.