Unitree Robotics surges 629% to US$66 billion valuation in Shanghai share debut

Shares of Unitree Robotics surged 629 per cent above their initial public offering price to open at 1,100 yuan in their Shanghai trading debut on Wednesday, giving China’s best-known humanoid robot maker a market capitalisation of about 445 billion yuan (US$66 billion).The opening pop from its IPO price of 150.80 yuan was followed by a pullback, with the stock dropping below 900 yuan per share in early morning trading.Unitree’s debut coincides with the opening of the World Robot Conference in Beijing, one of China’s biggest annual robotics gatherings, which runs from Wednesday to Sunday and features product launches, industry forums and robot contests.The Hangzhou-based company, listed on the tech-focused Star Market, raised about 6.1 billion yuan by selling 40.45 million shares, or 10 per cent of its enlarged share capital. The offering valued Unitree at about 61 billion yuan before trading began.As the first listing of a humanoid robot maker on a mainland exchange, the offering drew intense interest. Nearly 9.8 million retail investment accounts competed for just 9.7 million shares in the online tranche, resulting in a final allocation rate of only 0.018 per cent.Artificial intelligence start-up DeepSeek and tech giant Tencent Holdings joined the strategic placement alongside state-backed investors including China-national-petroleum" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="188342" data-entity-type="organization">China National Petroleum, China-southern-power-grid" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="180257" data-entity-type="organization">China Southern Power Grid, China-telecom" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="15182" data-entity-type="organization">China Telecom, Citic Securities and the National Council for Social Security Fund.