At the second World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing last weekend, a humanoid made by Chinese leader Unitree Robotics ran a 100-metre dash time of 9.39 seconds — 0.19 seconds faster than Usain Bolt when he broke the world record at the 2009 World Athletics Championships. It was a remarkable achievement (especially considering that just four years ago the world’s fastest bipedal robot ran the event in 24.73 seconds) that reaffirmed the company’s place at the bleeding edge of robotics. However, after crossing the finish line, the robot failed to decelerate, ran straight into a padded wall, and had to be stretchered off the track.
This sequence of events is a perfect summation of how things have been going lately at Unitree.
The company went public under the name Yushu Technology Co. on the Shanghai Stock Exchange’s STAR Market last week, becoming mainland China’s first listed humanoid robot maker. The immediate reaction was nothing short of ecstatic as investors rushed to get a piece of a company that was constantly making headlines — shares soared 460% in the first day as the firm raised US$904 million. Within a few days, the stock collapsed and it is now trading roughly 45% below its post-IPO high. What the heck happened? Well, there are two driving factors.
First: underlying issues with China’s stock markets. Unitree is just one in a slate of recent stocks in China that have been directly influenced by state policy. The Communist government has focused on nurturing advanced technology companies as a way to revive its flagging economy instead of traditional increases in government spending. A consequence has been a flood of companies bolstered by this support filing for IPOs and attracting undue attention based on hype rather than market fundamentals. Investors snap up shares, inflate a stock’s value early on, and then sell so they can cash out high just in time to invest in the next big thing. Because of loopholes in China’s IPO system, it has been hard to prevent such practices. In the case of Unitree, it has to contend with upcoming IPOs from a buzzy chipmaker, as well as many other state-supported robot-makers.
Second: fears of a robot bubble. Like a fraudulent MVP candidate, China’s robot industry has some gaudy counting stats you can point to as a sign of dominance, but they don’t hold up. According to Morgan Stanley estimates, humanoid makers completed around 19,000 global shipments, a 272% increase from 2025, with China accounting for 97% of sales by robotics companies. In total, China is projected to complete 50,000 humanoid shipments by year’s end, a staggering 316% increase from last year. However, look under the hood and you’ll see that most of these robots aren’t hitting factory floors, and are instead going to universities for research or demonstration purposes. In total, there are 150 humanoid robot companies in the country — a number that’s just begging for market-crunching consolidation.
As for the robots themselves, they may put on flashy displays for the cameras, but all those backflips and choreographed dance routines are actually easier for them to do than, say, pack a container or stack a box. These bots don’t have a high enough level of general intelligence for workplace or home deployment, and it could be a while before they get there. Even the CEO of Unitree is among those relatively bearish on the near-term prospects of humanoids. Last week, he said that a true breakthrough would occur when robots can be dropped in an unfamiliar home and complete 80% of the tasks asked of them. Per his estimates, this “ChatGPT moment” might still be as long as a decade away.
