Taikang Insurance Heir Leads $274M Bet on Unitree in Hard-Tech Push

This report is adapted from an article by Niudao Finance (牛刀财经), originally published on Taimei (Titanium Media). On August 12, Unitree Robotics disclosed the placement results for its STAR Market IPO.

The online offering saw participation from 37 insurance companies, 2,617 allocation accounts, and 1.03 billion yuan in funds, which together took 30% of the online shares.

In this hard-tech IPO feast, Taikang Asset Management led the pack with 274 million yuan and 642 allocation accounts, securing 1.82 million shares, ranking first among all insurance institutions.

One of the driving forces behind this IPO subscription spree is Chen Yilun, the 36-year-old son of Taikang Insurance Group founder Chen Dongsheng. As a member of the group's management committee and deputy general manager of Taikang Asset Management, his aggressive push into hard-tech IPOs signals not just a shift in insurance capital but also a calculated move by a family successor to secure a position early.

First, the numbers. As of June 30, 2026, Taikang Asset Management oversaw 2.9 trillion yuan in third-party assets, with pension assets exceeding 1.4 trillion yuan, and third-party management accounting for over 50% of its business.

In the Unitree IPO, Taikang Asset alone accounted for 26.6% of the total allocation to insurance institutions. This is not the first time Taikang has heavily invested in a hard-tech IPO—since 2026, Taikang Life has participated as a cornerstone investor in 19 tech IPOs, with total subscriptions of 25.96 billion HKD. On AI projects like Zhipu, MiniMax, and Biren Technology, the paper gains on Zhipu alone exceed 2.2 billion HKD.

From Changxin Technology to Unitree, from chips to humanoid robots, Taikang is putting real money behind the concept of 'patient capital.' The policy signal is clear: in March 2026, four departments including the Ministry of Science and Technology and the financial regulator issued documents explicitly supporting insurance funds to increase long-term investment in technology; the risk provision coefficient for long-term holdings on the STAR Market was also lowered from 0.4 to 0.36.

Regulators are paving the way for long-term insurance capital to flow into hard tech through institutional design. Chen Yilun's role in this capital migration is nuanced.

Born in 1988, Chen graduated from Harvard with a degree in economics and previously worked as an analyst at Goldman Sachs Asset Management (Hong Kong). He joined Taikang Asset Management in 2015, rising from research director to director and deputy general manager, while also serving as chairman of Taikang Fund and Beijing Taikang Investment.

Chen Dongsheng has laid out a clear path for his son: focus solely on asset management and investment, steering clear of the insurance core business and pension operations. From strategic equity investments to general account investments, and from subsidiary management to capital operations, this setup is aimed at leveraging capital to drive growth.

This arrangement sidesteps the complex, ground-level operations of the insurance business and places Chen Yilun in the position most likely to generate incremental value for the group. However, this path has its cautionary tales. In 2020, Chen led a 'Taikang-affiliated' investment in Sunshine City, which ended in a loss of nearly 50% due to the company's debt crisis.

Moreover, over 30 funds managed by Taikang Fund have suffered substantial losses in the past year, drawing complaints from investors. In the investment arena, the halo of being a second-generation heir does not automatically translate to performance. Yet Chen Yilun continues to double down, focusing not on short-term sentiment but on an irreversible long-term trend.

From Changxin Technology to Unitree, insurance capital is undergoing a wholesale shift from a 'fixed-income faith' to a 'tech faith.' In the second half of 2026, major insurers including China Life, Ping An, CPIC, and Taikang have collectively made substantial investments in semiconductors, AI computing power, and humanoid robotics.

Taikang has secured cornerstone stakes in several AI chip companies' Hong Kong IPOs this year, including Montage Technology, Biren Technology, and GigaDevice. Ping An holds significant positions in SMIC, NAURA, and Hygon; CPIC has established dedicated sci-tech funds for computing power, optical modules, and robotics.