Unitree shares surge over 600% in spectacular Chinese stock market debut

Unitree, the world’s biggest humanoid robot maker, has made a spectacular entry on to China’s stock market, with its shares surging by more than 600%.

The Chinese company’s robots have gained global fame via viral videos of them performing martial arts, running at Olympic speeds and serving as backup dancers for pop stars.

Shares in the business, officially known as Yushu Technology Co, rose to as high as 1,100 yuan (£120.39) on Wednesday, up from an IPO price of just 150.8 yuan. Its gains were later pared back to a rise of nearly 500%.

Investors are searching for winners in robotics development, which has emerged as one of the key battlegrounds in the AI race.

Unitree, which was founded in 2016, shipped more than 5,500 humanoid robots last year.

The market for human-like robots is expected to grow rapidly, with analysts projecting that sales could rise from around $2bn (£1.5bn) in 2025 to $300bn by 2035.

There was exceptional demand from Chinese retail investors in Unitree’s IPO, with the tranche of shares dedicated to non-professional stockpickers oversubscribed by thousands.

Unitree is one of the few listed humanoid robot makers in the world. Its biggest competitor, AgiBot, is private and its smaller rival UBTech is listed in Hong Kong.

However, at least half a dozen other Chinese humanoid robotic businesses are preparing to go public, including Deep Robotics and Leju Robotics.

Wang Xingxing, who founded Unitree in 2016 and remains its chief executive, owns about a fifth of the business. The spike in its share price means his personal wealth is now worth more than $12bn on paper, according to Reuters.

Unitree’s market debut also coincided with the opening of the World Robot Conference in Bejiing on Wednesday, where hundreds of companies, mostly Chinese, will launch new products and demonstrate their technical developments.

Last month, the US Federal Communications Commission banned imports of future models of foreign-made humanoid and quadruped robots based on national security concerns.

This summer the Pentagon also added Unitree to a list of Chinese military companies, describing it as a “contributor to the Chinese defence industrial base”. Unitree has previously said its robots are for civilian use.

The business is backed by several big Chinese technology companies, including Tencent and Alibaba.