Chinese robotics giant Unitree surged as much as 629% in its blockbuster market debut
At Beijing's World Robot Conference on Thursday, Unitree founder Wang Xingxing framed the humanoid robotics industry as approaching its own "ChatGPT moment" — a breakthrough on par with the 2022 launch that kicked off the broader AI boom. He described a future tipping point where a robot dropped into an unfamiliar home could handle roughly 80% of tasks just from spoken or typed instructions, something he called critical for the industry's next growth phase.
The comments came a day after Unitree's shares nearly sextupled on their Shanghai IPO debut, only to slide 11% the following morning — a swing that underscored just how much speculative energy is swirling around the sector. Wang tempered that enthusiasm with a dose of realism: he pegged a genuine software leap at two to three years away in a best case, or five to ten years in a more conservative one. An industry observer, Georg Stieler of the robotics consultancy Stieler, noted that Wang's caution stood out against the giddier mood surrounding the conference and the IPO.
Unitree itself — best known for its robot dogs and now the world's second-largest humanoid maker by shipment volume — said its heaviest investment right now is in "world models," the simulation systems meant to help robots interpret and move through real environments. Wang admitted the company is behind on turning that research into real-world deployment, and that the AI systems driving robots' decisions remain the industry's core bottleneck.
A rival founder, Wang He of Galbot, offered a more concrete timeline, predicting the "ChatGPT moment" — defined as robots handling 70-80% of everyday tasks without special training — would land by 2028.
The piece also situates this in a geopolitical frame: China produced over 40,000 humanoid robots in the first half of the year and now accounts for 97% of global shipments, a dominance Beijing is leaning into as it looks to offset a shrinking workforce. That dominance has also made humanoids a flashpoint in U.S.-China tech tensions — last month the FCC moved to ban future imports of Chinese-made humanoid and quadruped robots on national security grounds, pushing several Chinese firms at the conference to say they're now looking to expand into other overseas markets instead.
Chinese robotics companies are increasingly focused on proving that humanoid robots can move beyond flashy demonstrations and become useful tools in factories, warehouses and homes.
At the World Robot Conference in Beijing, more than 300 mostly Chinese companies showcased over 2,000 exhibits and introduced more than 150 products. Demonstrations included humanoid robots sorting parcels, packing smartphones and performing household tasks.
Investor enthusiasm is also surging. Unitree, one of China’s best-known humanoid robot makers, saw its shares jump nearly sixfold on their Shanghai debut after its initial public offering was more than 8,000 times oversubscribed by retail investors. Other companies, including Lumos Robotics and Chery Automobile’s robotics unit, said they were considering stock market listings.
The conference also attracted international attention. Madison Huang, a senior Nvidia executive, made an unannounced visit and watched robot demonstrations before discussing sensors with a companion-robot maker. Her appearance underscored the continuing role of foreign technology suppliers in China’s rapidly developing robotics industry despite U.S. restrictions on advanced Nvidia chips.
RealSense, a U.S. maker of robotic vision systems, said it was expanding sales partnerships in China. The company’s chief marketing officer, Mike Nielsen, described China as a strategic market and said the country was becoming a center of humanoid-robot development.
Chinese officials are promoting robotics as an important contributor to economic growth, while manufacturers are increasingly testing humanoids in logistics, production and service environments.
Leju, for example, has deployed robots to move boxes and components in European factories and Chinese automobile plants. Robotera said it had more than 100 parcel-sorting robots operating in 15 warehouses, including China Post facilities.
Other companies are targeting manufacturing. DexForce demonstrated humanoid robots packing mobile phones at an assembly line and said its machines had been operating since early this year at a Lens Technology factory, which supplies components to Apple and Huawei. The company says its robots can operate with millimetre-level accuracy and identify and correct mistakes.
Lumos Robotics is already using robots to assemble key modules at its own factory and plans to expand their use into final assembly. Meanwhile, X Square Robot is testing household robots in hundreds of homes this year after shorter trials, with plans for gradual commercialisation in 2027.
The challenge for the industry is now less about demonstrating what humanoid robots can do and more about proving that they can do it reliably, repeatedly and economically at scale.
Nielsen said companies most likely to succeed will be those capable of putting robots into real production environments. He also noted that the development cycle for robots is becoming much faster, with products evolving in six to eight months rather than the three to four years typical of many traditional industries.
China’s humanoid-robot sector therefore faces a crucial transition: turning impressive demonstrations and investor excitement into dependable commercial deployments that can justify the industry’s rapidly rising valuations.