By Samuel Shen and Eduardo Baptista
SHANGHAI/BEIJING, Aug 19 (Reuters) - Shares in Unitree, China's best-known humanoid robot maker, soared nearly six-fold in its Shanghai trading debut, in a landmark moment for the country's robotics sector which has become a key battleground in the Sino-U.S. tech war.
Unitree, which competes with Hyundai Motor Group-owned Boston Dynamics and Tesla, has drawn global attention for its robots that run, dance and perform martial arts.
One of the world's biggest producers
of humanoid and quadruped robots, it is a symbol of national pride for China, backed by influential firms, both private-sector tech giants and state-run.
It is also, unlike most of its peers, profitable even if few of its robots are used in commercial applications. And while it is not the first Chinese humanoid robot maker to go public, its listing is expected to set the tone for a slew of domestic rivals preparing to come to market.
"It is a top-tier player, and its uniqueness commands premiums," said Yan Kai, a venture capitalist and partner at Ivy Capital in Shanghai.
"Its price is dictated by political and economic considerations, rather than valuation models."
FIRST-MOVER ADVANTAGE
The stock finished the morning session at 883.87 yuan on the tech-focused STAR Market, much higher than its IPO price of 150.8 yuan and valuing the company at around $50 billion. It pared some gains after having opened at the day's high of 1,100 yuan.
That rise far exceeds the average first-day pop of 279% for new share listings in China for the year thus far. It also contrasts with a 2% drop for Chinese benchmark indexes, with tech shares succumbing to heavy selling.
The debut coincides with the opening of the World Robot Conference in Beijing, where hundreds of mostly Chinese companies will be launching new products and demonstrating advancements that the government is betting will help make up for the labour shortfall caused by China's demographic crisis.
Unitree's blockbuster listing will add to its first-mover advantage, helping it survive in an industry where most other firms are losing money, said William Xin, chairman of Spring Mountain Pu Jiang Investment Management.
"At this early stage of competition, whoever gets listed and has visibility can grab the resources and have staying power,” he said.
FUTURE PRODUCTS CUT OFF FROM US MARKET
While investors in China were quick to jump on the stock, others have cautioned that many of its sales to date have been one-off sales and that few of its robots are being used in commercial settings. Many of its products are sold to research institutions and universities.
Moreover, in July, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission banned imports of future models of foreign-made humanoid and quadruped robots, including those from Unitree, citing national security concerns.
That cuts off a huge market for Unitree, which has become a case in point of how well China has been able to scale up in new highly strategic industries despite some products being first developed in the United States.
Unitree based designs for its most successful robot dogs on innovations funded by the U.S. military, a former U.S. defense technology official and three top researchers involved in the project told Reuters.
The U.S. Army research was published openly to stimulate progress in the field, a common practice, and Unitree did nothing underhand in using it.
Unitree has not responded to Reuters requests for comment.
In June, the Pentagon also added Unitree to a list of Chinese military companies, calling it a “contributor to the Chinese defense industrial base.” That designation falls short of a sanction but limits the U.S. military’s future use of Unitree’s technology. Unitree has said its robots are for civilian use.
MORE CHINESE ROBOT MAKERS TO LIST
Some 10% of the Unitree shares were sold in the IPO, which raised about $900 million, and founder Wang Xingxing continues to own around a fifth of the company. The debut has catapulted his personal wealth to more than $12 billion on paper.
The startup also has backing from some of China's most influential tech firms including Tencent, Alibaba and DeepSeek, while Wang had a coveted front-row seat at a summit with tech business leaders hosted by Chinese President Xi Jinping early last year.
At least a half dozen Chinese humanoid robotics firms are preparing to go public. Deep Robotics and Leju Robotics have applied to list on mainland Chinese exchanges, while Mech-Mind Robotics, X Square Robot and AgiBot have chosen to pursue a Hong Kong listing.
($1 = 6.7420 Chinese yuan)
(Reporting by Samuel Shen in Shanghai and Eduardo Baptista in Beijing, Editing by Edwina Gibbs)
