Unitree Robotics surges 542 percent in Shanghai STAR Market debut
Chinese humanoid robot maker Unitree Robotics saw its shares surge 542 percent in its Shanghai debut, underscoring robust investor demand for the country’s rapidly scaling automation industry.
Unitree Robotics shares jumped 542 percent in early Wednesday trading as the Hangzhou-based company made its public market debut in Shanghai. The stock reached 968.1 yuan per share after briefly touching 1,100 yuan during the session.
The initial public offering on the STAR Market generated approximately 6.1 billion yuan, or $905 million, according to the company’s prospectus. The listing follows a similar trajectory for recent Chinese tech entrants, notably memory chipmaker CXMT, which gained 466 percent on its first trading day last month.
Institutional and corporate confidence in the robotics firm is evident in its shareholder registry. Chinese artificial intelligence developer DeepSeek invested roughly 140.8 million yuan ahead of the listing. Technology giant Tencent also remains an existing backer of the company.
Unitree manufactures four-legged machines designed for hazard detection alongside bipedal humanoids capable of complex object manipulation. The company recently demonstrated its technical progress by unveiling a new humanoid model named Superman. The firm states this machine can execute a two-meter standing jump and reach running speeds of 12.66 meters per second.
This public listing arrives as financial institutions aggressively revise their growth expectations for China’s automation sector. In June, Morgan Stanley nearly doubled its projection for domestic humanoid robot shipments this year to 50,000 units. This marked a significant increase from the bank's earlier estimate of 28,000 units.
The bank forecasts the Chinese humanoid robot market will expand from $2 billion this year to $15 billion by 2030. Analysts anticipate that current pilot programs will transition into broader commercial deployments during the second half of this year.
Full-size humanoid models are expected to represent roughly 30 percent of total shipments in the near term. Morgan Stanley projects that figure will climb to 70 percent by 2028. This shift indicates a rapid maturation in industrial and commercial adoption across the region.
