Unitree Robotics reports plunge in first-quarter profits days before crucial IPO hearing

Unitree Robotics, a luminary in China’s humanoid robot boom, has reported a sharp plunge in first-quarter profits just days before its crucial listing hearing, casting a shadow over its Star Market initial public offering (IPO) as soaring expenses and a brutal price war catch up to the industry’s hype.The Shanghai Stock Exchange’s listing committee is scheduled to review Unitree’s IPO application on June 1, according to an exchange notice on Monday. The company, based in Hangzhou, the capital of China’s eastern Zhejiang province, is seeking to raise 4.2 billion yuan (US$618.94 million) to fund robot body development, embodied AI models and manufacturing facilities.The milestone step towards the IPO sparked a buying frenzy in mainland Chinese markets on Tuesday, as retail investors aggressively chased listed companies with direct exposure to Unitree, including its pre-listing shareholders and upstream suppliers.