Chinese robotics company Unitree Robotics has launched its initial public offering (IPO) process for a listing on Shanghai's STAR Market, as the country's humanoid robotics industry continues to gain momentum.
According to an announcement released on Thursday, the firm based in Hangzhou in east China plans to issue 40.45 million shares, representing 10 percent of its enlarged share capital. The offering will combine strategic placement, offline institutional subscription and online public subscription.
The preliminary price inquiry is scheduled for Aug. 5, while online and offline subscriptions will begin on Aug. 10, Unitree said, without disclosing the trading debut date.
After the listing, Unitree founder Wang Xingxing and related parties will hold 31.29 percent of the company's shares and 65.31 percent of its voting rights.
Founded in 2016, Unitree Robotics has emerged as one of China's leading robotics firms, specializing in the development of quadruped and humanoid robots. In 2025, its humanoid robot shipments surpassed 5,500 units, ranking first globally.
Benefiting from robust demand for embodied artificial intelligence and continued expansion of its business operations, Unitree expects revenue for the first half of 2026 to reach between 1.052 billion yuan (about 155.73 million U.S. dollars) and 1.128 billion yuan, representing a year-on-year increase of 35.62 percent to 45.41 percent.
Gaining widespread attention after its humanoid robots performed at China's Spring Festival Gala, Unitree filed its IPO application on March 20, and obtained regulatory registration approval 104 days later, a record-breaking timeline for STAR Market listings, which underscored regulators' recognition of the strategic importance of embodied intelligence, analysts have noted.
This IPO move reflects a broader trend in China as embodied AI and humanoid robots move closer to large-scale commercialization. Two other firms, Leju Robot and Deep Robotics, had their listing applications accepted in May.
China has identified the robotics industry as a key frontier for gaining a strategic technological edge. In the first half of 2026, China-developed quadruped robots accounted for nearly 70 percent of global sales, according to data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
International Data Corporation, a market researcher, forecasts that global shipments of humanoid robots will exceed 510,000 units by 2030, implying a compound annual growth rate of almost 95 percent.
China's Unitree launches IPO process amid humanoid robotics boom
The ongoing China-ASEAN Expo serves as a bridge for China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to boost trade flows, helping both sides reap shared development dividends.
Scheduled to run from Sept 17 to 21 in Nanning City of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, the event draws more than 3,400 exhibitors from over 70 countries and regions.
This year, Timor-Leste is participating for the first time as a full ASEAN member and a co-host of the expo, with participants noting results have exceeded expectations, bolstered by China's vast market.
"I brought 60 packages of 250-gram coffee, which would be sold out in one day. Now I'm thinking that China market is open for everybody and it's very huge," said an exhibitor from Timor-Leste.
Participants also hailed the construction of China's Pinglu Canal, which officially opened to traffic on Wednesday.
The 134.2-km-long canal runs from Hengzhou, a county-level city in Guangxi, to the Beibu Gulf, the closest maritime outlet for much of southwest China.
The canal becomes a cost-competitive river-sea intermodal shortcut connecting ASEAN producers with the vast consumer market in southwest China, said the participants.
"In the past, shipments into the southwest China usually went by sea to Guangzhou and then overlands. Too many handover made it hard to keep products fresh. Losses were high and transit time was unreliable. Now that the canal is open, we can enter [the] Guangxi [Zhuang Autonomous Region] directly from the Beibu Gulf and move on to Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan restaurants, faster onto the supermarket shelves and tables in the southeast [part of China]," said an exhibitor from Vietnam.
With the formal signing of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area (FTA) 3.0 Upgrade Protocol in Oct 2025, bilateral cooperation has expanded beyond economic and trade areas to emerging fields such as the digital economy and the green economy.
"I am looking for an investor to develop agriculture and integrated tourism with us in Malaysia," said an exhibitor from Malaysia.
Economic ties between China and ASEAN have continued to deepen. Bilateral trade topped 1 trillion U.S. dollars for the first time in 2025, totaling 1.05 trillion dollars, up 7.4 percent year on year. In the first seven months of 2026, trade between the two sides reached 744.41 billion dollars, an increase of 24.7 percent year on year and accounting for 21.8 percent of China's total foreign trade.
China has remained ASEAN's largest trading partner for 17 consecutive years, while ASEAN has been China's largest trading partner for six successive years.
China-ASEAN Expo boosts bilateral cooperation, delivers shared dividends
