Unitree lists on Shanghai's STAR Market after raising RMB6.1 billion at 219 times earnings
Unitree Robotics began trading in Shanghai on August 19, 2026 under code 688836 after selling 40.4 million new shares at RMB150.80, raising gross proceeds of RMB6,099.32 million. The issue price values the Hangzhou humanoid and quadruped maker at about RMB60.99 billion, or 219.23 times 2025 earnings, against an industry average of 38.56 times cited in its own listing document.
Unitree Robotics began trading on the Shanghai Stock Exchange's STAR Market on August 19, 2026 under the code 688836, after selling 40,446,434 new shares at RMB150.80 apiece, according to the company's listing announcement filed on August 18. The sale raised gross proceeds of RMB6,099.32 million and net proceeds of RMB5,917.15 million, and the issue price puts the Hangzhou company's 404,464,340 shares at about RMB60.99 billion.
The pricing is steep by any domestic yardstick. Unitree's listing document gives an issue price-to-earnings ratio of 219.23 times, calculated on 2025 net profit attributable to shareholders using the lower of the figures before and after non-recurring items, on a fully diluted basis. It sets that against an average static ratio of 38.56 times for the industry over the prior month, as published by China Securities Index. On sales, the issue price equals 35.89 times 2025 revenue, while the two listed comparables Unitree chose, UBTech Robotics and Dobot, trade at 19.37 times and 20.12 times respectively, according to the same filing.
The numbers behind the valuation show a company that is already profitable. Unitree reported 2025 revenue of RMB1,699.27 million and net profit attributable to shareholders of RMB278.21 million on the lower measure, the listing announcement shows. Gross margin rose from 44.22% in 2023 to 60.13% in 2025. In the first half of 2026 revenue climbed 48.54% to RMB1,152.25 million from RMB775.72 million, and net profit attributable to shareholders reached RMB274.00 million against a loss of RMB32.02 million a year earlier. Profit excluding non-recurring items, however, fell 19.34% to RMB243.93 million from RMB302.43 million.
What was sold, and to whom
Only 30,087,720 shares, or 7.44% of the enlarged share capital, became tradable on the first day, according to the exchange's listing notice. Strategic investors took 8,089,286 shares, or 20% of the offering. The sponsor's verification report lists the National Council for Social Security Fund, Hangzhou DeepSeek Artificial Intelligence Basic Technology Research Co., CNPC's Kunlun Capital, China Southern Power Grid's industrial finance arm, China Telecom's Tianyi Capital and Shanghai Qishan Investment as strategic placees, alongside two employee asset management plans and a co-investment vehicle of the sponsor, CITIC Securities. The social security fund received 933,402 shares and the DeepSeek entity 933,399 shares, the employee plans 1,800,397 shares and CITIC Securities Investment 808,928 shares. In the online retail tranche, investors paid for 9,698,266 of the 9,707,000 shares allotted and abandoned 8,734.
Unitree describes its main business as the research, development, production and sale of high-performance general-purpose humanoid robots, quadruped robots, robot components and embodied AI models. Its humanoid line comprises the G1, H2 and R1, and its quadrupeds the Go2, B2 and A2. The prospectus states that the company ranked first globally in humanoid robot shipments in 2025. The proceeds are earmarked for four projects: intelligent robot model research, robot body research, development of new intelligent robot products and construction of an intelligent robot manufacturing base.
Control stays firmly with the founder. Wang Xingxing holds 21.4395% of the shares directly after the offering, and the special voting rights attached to his holdings give him control of up to 65.3090% of votes, the listing announcement says. Unitree listed under Article 2.1.4(1) of the STAR Market rules, which applies to companies with weighted voting arrangements and requires an expected market value of at least RMB10 billion. At the end of 2025 it had total assets of RMB3,208.54 million and equity attributable to shareholders of RMB2,604.66 million; post-issue net assets per share are RMB21.07.
Competitive context
Unitree arrives as the profitable outlier among humanoid developers. UBTech, the Hong Kong-listed peer named in Unitree's comparables, reported revenue of RMB1,269.1 million for the first half of 2026 and a loss for the period of RMB338.8 million, according to its interim results announcement. In the United States the leading names remain private and loss-making: Figure AI raised US$1 billion in its Series C at a US$39 billion post-money valuation in September 2025, and Skild AI raised US$1.4 billion at US$14 billion in January 2026, according to the companies.
The technical point that explains Unitree's margins is vertical integration. Legged robots depend on compact joint actuators that combine a motor, a reducer, an encoder and a driver, and those parts dominate the bill of materials. Unitree lists robot components as a business line in its own right, which means it designs the parts that competitors usually buy. That lets it sell research and education platforms at prices that drew universities and developers, while keeping a gross margin above 60%.
The risks are visible in the filing itself. A ratio of 219 times trailing earnings leaves little room for disappointment, and the 19.34% fall in first-half profit excluding non-recurring items shows that revenue growth has not translated evenly into core earnings. With only 7.44% of shares free to trade on listing day, the price may not reflect broad supply until lock-ups expire. Wang's weighted votes limit the influence of outside shareholders.
The next checkpoints are the third-quarter report, which STAR Market companies must publish by October 31, 2026, and the full-year 2026 report due by April 30, 2027. Investors will also watch how quickly the manufacturing base funded by the offering is built, and whether demand broadens from research buyers to factories and services.
ROBOTNESS analysis
Unitree's listing prices it as China's scarce profitable humanoid platform, which makes its next two reports a test of whether the first-half dip in core profit was a pause or a trend.
The evidence for the premium is in the filing: revenue up 48.54% in the first half, a 60.13% gross margin in 2025 and positive attributable profit, against loss-making peers such as UBTech and the large private US developers. Strategic buy-in from the national social security fund, three central state-owned groups and a DeepSeek entity signals that the state and China's best-known model lab want exposure to the hardware layer.
The strongest counter-argument is arithmetic. At 35.89 times sales Unitree is priced at almost double the 19.74 times average of the two comparables it picked itself, and the 19.34% decline in first-half profit excluding non-recurring items arrived just as the price was set.
Bull case: Unitree uses RMB5.9 billion of net proceeds to add manufacturing capacity and models, keeps its cost lead in actuators and becomes the default low-cost body for embodied AI developers worldwide. Revenue growth near 50% with margins near 60% would compress the multiple quickly.
Bear case: research and education demand saturates, price competition from dozens of Chinese humanoid makers erodes gross margin, and core profit keeps sliding while share supply rises after lock-ups. A 219 times multiple would then de-rate toward the industry's 38.56 times.
- October 31, 2026: third-quarter report, the first test of core profit after listing.
- April 30, 2027 at the latest: full-year 2026 report with revenue split by humanoid and quadruped lines.
- August 19, 2027: first anniversary of listing, when a full year of listed results can be set against the RMB150.80 issue price.
- Unitree Robotics (at RMB150.80 issue price)
- 35.89
- 219.23
- UBTech Robotics
- 19.37
- No data
- Dobot
- 20.12
- No data
- Average of the two comparables
- 19.74
- No data
- CSI industry average (static, prior month)
- No data
- 38.56
All multiples as disclosed in Unitree's STAR Market listing announcement of August 18, 2026. Unitree P/S = value at issue price / 2025 revenue; P/E uses 2025 net profit attributable to shareholders, lower of pre and post non-recurring items, fully diluted. Figures disclosed, not estimated.
As of Oct 1, 2026
- CITIC Securities
- 219.23x (diluted, lower of pre/post non-recurring 2025 profit)
- 688836 (SSE STAR Market)
- RMB150.80 per share
- August 19, 2026
- RMB5,917.15 million
- RMB6,099.32 million
- RMB1,152.25 million, up 48.54%
- 40,446,434
- about RMB60.99 billion (404,464,340 shares)
Why it matters
Unitree lists on the mainland's technology board as a Chinese humanoid maker of scale with audited profits, and the price it achieved now serves as the reference valuation for a long queue of embodied AI companies preparing filings in Shanghai and Hong Kong. Any company that follows will be compared with 219.23 times earnings and 35.89 times sales, and with the 60.13% gross margin that supports them.
The listing also converts Unitree from a private supplier into a disclosing company. From now on its quarterly reports will be the only audited, regular series of financials for a company whose revenue is dominated by humanoid and quadruped robots, which gives the whole sector a public data point for pricing, margins and demand.
Rival analysis
UBTech is the closest listed rival and the contrast is sharp. UBTech sold 921 full-size humanoids and booked RMB590.3 million of full-size humanoid revenue in the first half of 2026, but it reported a period loss of RMB338.8 million. Unitree reported attributable profit of RMB274.00 million on revenue of RMB1,152.25 million in the same half. Unitree's own filing places UBTech at 19.37 times sales and Dobot at 20.12 times, against its 35.89 times.
Against US developers the comparison is between profits and promises. Figure AI's US$39 billion post-money valuation and Skild AI's US$14 billion rest on future deployments rather than current earnings. Unitree's advantage is cost and volume in hardware; its disadvantage is that its brand rests on research and education platforms rather than signed industrial fleets.
Valuation context
At RMB150.80 per share the 404,464,340 shares are worth about RMB60.99 billion. Dividing that by 2025 revenue of RMB1,699.27 million gives the 35.89 times sales multiple in the filing, and the P/E of 219.23 times follows from net profit of RMB278.21 million on the lower measure. Post-issue net assets of RMB21.07 per share imply a price-to-book ratio of about 7.2 times (150.80 / 21.07).
The multiple is roughly 5.7 times the CSI industry average of 38.56 times (219.23 / 38.56). A sustained premium requires either faster profit growth than the first half's core decline suggests or investors treating Unitree as a scarce asset in an index that has few listed humanoid pure plays.
Supply-chain implications
Unitree lists robot components as a business line, and its cost position comes from designing actuators, the motor, reducer, encoder and driver packages that drive the cost of any legged robot. Its proceeds plan includes an intelligent robot manufacturing base, which suggests more of the assembly and component work will move in-house rather than to contract manufacturers.
The strategic placement adds customers and partners as much as capital. CNPC's Kunlun Capital, China Southern Power Grid's finance arm and China Telecom's Tianyi Capital represent state groups with inspection, energy and telecom sites where legged robots can work, while the DeepSeek entity links Unitree to a leading Chinese model developer.
Signals to watch
The third-quarter report due by October 31, 2026 will show whether profit excluding non-recurring items resumed growth after falling 19.34% in the first half. A second signal is gross margin: anything well below the 60.13% of 2025 would indicate that price competition among Chinese humanoid makers has reached Unitree.
Third, watch disclosures on the manufacturing base and on any customer concentration. A move from research and education buyers toward industrial or energy customers, possibly including the state groups in the placement, would support the premium; continued dependence on research buyers would weaken it.
Analyst view
Thesis: Unitree deserves a premium to listed peers because it is profitable and vertically integrated, but 219 times earnings already discounts several years of strong growth. Confidence: medium. The financial data come from audited filings and are solid, but the company has disclosed little about revenue by product or customer, and the first-half dip in core profit is unexplained in the documents reviewed.
We would treat the stock as a sector barometer rather than a pure company bet. Its quarterly figures will set expectations for every Chinese humanoid listing that follows, including the robotics companies now preparing filings in Shanghai and Hong Kong.
Questions you should be asking
What drove the 19.34% fall in first-half profit excluding non-recurring items while revenue rose 48.54%: pricing, mix, research spending or share-based pay?
How is revenue split between humanoids, quadrupeds and components, and how much comes from research and education buyers versus commercial deployments?
Will the DeepSeek entity's strategic stake lead to a formal model partnership, and what will the state-owned placees buy?