China holds more than 97pc of the burgeoning humanoid robotics market despite lacking big budget VC attention.
Investors rushed to back China’s first publicly listed humanoid maker Unitree Robotics, sending the company’s share price surging by 460pc in its Shanghai trading debut today (19 August) after it raised $904m in its initial public offering (IPO).
At the peak of the spike, Unitree’s shares rose by nearly 630pc of their IPO price of 150.80 yuan – or roughly $22 – to 1,100 yuan. That figure is now down to 845 yuan.
The company said it plans to invest roughly 4.2bn yuan ($620m) from the IPO proceeds into research, innovation and development projects, and a robot manufacturing base.
Around 20pc of the company’s offering was allocated to select private investors, including Chinese AI research lab DeepSeek and state-owned enterprises including China National Petroleum and China Telecom.
DeepSeek has invested $20.8m in Unitree in exchange for 2.31pc of its shares. The companies have agreed to jointly develop AI models for humanoid machines.
Unitree’s prospectus showed revenue rose to 1.7bn yuan in 2025 from 392.77m yuan in 2024, with humanoid robot shipments exceeding 5,500 units in 2025.
Unitree’s listing comes amid China’s continued dominance over global humanoid robotics, with recent reports suggesting that the country alone holds more than 97pc of the burgeoning market, while also representing more than 85pc of global demand. The sector is expected to grow from nearly $5.5bn this year to more than $50bn by 2035.
Shanghai-based Agibot recently overtook Unitree to become the world’s largest humanoid robot vendor, capturing 44pc of the global market. Together, the two vendors account for 75pc of humanoid robot sales across the world. Behind the two leaders are Beijing-based Galbot, Shenzhen’s Ubtech and Guangdong-based Leju.
Growing advancements in physical AI are helping prove humanoids’ place in industrial settings, as global sales surged 272pc in a year, with shipments growing 14,000 units in the first half of 2026.
Venture capital funding into physical AI – the same technology behind robotaxis, drones, sensors and other industrial automation capabilities – reportedly surged fourfold in the first half of this year, compared to the six months beforehand, totalling more than $47bn across 521 deals.
Combined funding in this space between 2022 and 2024 amounted to $41.9bn, highlighting investor belief in the industry’s maturity.
Major VC investments in this space this year included Waymo’s $16bn Series D, defence company Anduril Industries’ $5bn raise, Germany’s Neura Robotics’ $1.4bn Series C and the UK’s Wayve securing $1.26bn.
AI2 Robotics, a Shenzhen-based start-up building wheeled humanoid robots with five-fingered hands, raised roughly $881m.
China’s humanoid advantage comes as a result of its vast network of component manufacturers and production capacity. Along with government support, this network is able to quickly develop and implement newer technologies with the economies of scale.
JP Morgan data finds that a typical humanoid robot’s materials cost roughly $46,000 in China versus $131,000 in the US. China also produces about 70pc of the global supply of actuators, a key component type in humanoids that can account for up to 50pc of a unit’s total cost.
Don’t miss out on the knowledge you need to succeed. Sign up for the Daily Brief, Silicon Republic’s digest of need-to-know sci-tech news.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login