Shares of Unitree Robotics rocketed higher in their first day of trading on Shanghai's STAR Market this week, delivering one of the most dramatic stock debuts China has seen in years and instantly reshaping the fortune of the humanoid robot maker's founder.
The Hangzhou based company had priced its initial public offering at 150.8 yuan a share, valuing the business at roughly nine billion dollars. By the close of its first trading session, the stock had climbed as much as 629 percent, touching around 1,100 yuan a share and pushing Unitree's market value toward 66 billion dollars.
A Founder's Fortune Transformed
The rally reshaped the finances of Wang Xingxing, the 36 year old chairman and chief executive who started the company in 2016 after a brief stint at drone maker DJI. Wang controls roughly 30 percent of Unitree through direct and indirect holdings, built on a stake of about 121.4 million shares. As the stock surged, his personal net worth was estimated to have climbed past 16 billion dollars, placing him among the wealthiest tech entrepreneurs in China and making him the richest person in the country born in the 1990s.
Unitree has built its business around humanoid robots and four legged robot dogs, positioning itself as the world's largest maker of humanoid machines by shipment volume. Growth has accelerated sharply over the past year, with revenue jumping more than 300 percent to 1.7 billion yuan and net profit nearly tripling to 278.2 million yuan.
A Fast Track to the Public Markets
Unitree's path to listing moved unusually quickly by the standards of Chinese capital markets. The Shanghai Stock Exchange accepted the company's listing application in March 2026, and the China Securities Regulatory Commission granted final registration approval a little over three months later. Retail investors were able to subscribe to shares in early August, ahead of the trading debut this week.
The listing marks a milestone for China's humanoid robotics industry, which has drawn intense investor interest as companies race to commercialize machines that can walk, balance, and perform physical tasks alongside people. Unitree's debut gives the sector its first major publicly traded benchmark, and investors will now be watching closely to see whether the valuation holds once the initial trading frenzy settles.
