Unitree Shares Drop 53% from IPO Debut Amid Hype Concerns

Unitree Robotics' shares have fallen nearly 40% from their first-day closing price on Aug. 19, 2026, erasing roughly $20 billion in market value from that point and about $35 billion from their peak. The stock closed Wednesday at 513.93 yuan ($72.10) on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, down about 39% from its 845-yuan debut close and 53% below its first-day high of 1,100 yuan.

Despite the decline, Unitree shares remain more than three times higher than their 150.80-yuan IPO price. The company raised about 6.1 billion yuan ($900 million) in its IPO and saw shares soar 460% on the first trading day. The stock briefly hit 1,100 yuan, valuing Unitree at nearly 445 billion yuan (roughly $66 billion), well above the 42 billion yuan ($6.2 billion) target set before the IPO. The offering was priced at 150.80 yuan per share, valuing the company at about 61 billion yuan ($9 billion).

The subsequent drop suggests the market may be pulling back from the initial frenzy, but it doesn't necessarily indicate lost faith in Unitree's fundamentals.

Unitree is not a pre-revenue startup like many Western humanoid competitors. The company generated 1.70 billion yuan ($252 million) in revenue in 2025, up from 392.77 million yuan in 2024. Sales come from humanoids, quadrupeds, and various components. Humanoid revenue reached 868 million yuan in 2025, accounting for 51.78% of total revenue, with over 5,500 humanoids shipped.

Revenue growth continued into 2026. Unitree projected first-half revenue of 1.052 billion to 1.128 billion yuan, a year-over-year increase of roughly 36% to 45%. At Wednesday's close, Unitree was worth roughly $30 billion—about 125 times its 2025 revenue and over 350 times adjusted 2025 earnings. At its peak valuation of $66 billion, that multiple exceeded 250 times revenue. Such valuations remain extraordinary.

Meanwhile, Chinese regulators are reportedly becoming more cautious about humanoid companies going public. According to The Information, the China Securities Regulatory Commission has informally raised the bar for humanoid IPO candidates, asking for demonstrated recurring revenue, progress toward reducing losses, or significant technological innovation. Reuters could not independently verify the report, and Chinese financial regulators have not commented.

The Wall Street Journal separately reported similar informal signals from regulators. This scrutiny is notable given Unitree's substantial revenue. However, less than 10% of Unitree's 2025 revenue came from industrial applications. Over 40% came from overseas, with the rest domestic. The Financial Times reported that China has established more than 90 humanoid training centers, many co-funded by local governments and robot manufacturers, which buy humanoids to generate training data via teleoperation.

Unitree's financials look different when compared to U.S. humanoid developers. Agility Robotics recently disclosed its books as part of a proposed SPAC merger with Churchill Capital Corp. XI. According to its S-4 filing, Agility generated only $1.78 million in net sales in 2025, while recording a $140.2 million operating loss and a $138.1 million net loss. The company spent about $91.6 million on R&D and ended the year with about $103 million in cash.

Revenue figures for other leading U.S. developers like 1X Technologies, Apptronik, and Figure are not comparable. Boston Dynamics' revenue comes primarily from Spot and Stretch, not its Atlas humanoid. Low revenue is typical for companies commercializing industrial humanoids. Agility said its Digit robots have been deployed at nine customer sites, accumulating over 65,000 operating hours, with more than $300 million in multi-year contracted orders. The proposed SPAC values Agility at roughly $2.5 billion—about 1,400 times its 2025 net sales.

Unitree, despite generating hundreds of millions in revenue and turning a profit, is worth about $30 billion. Agility and others are still proving humanoids can generate meaningful industrial revenue. Unitree has shown revenue, but the market now questions how much more will come, from where, and whether current valuations already price in future growth.