UBTECH Robotics

Korea's regulatory sandbox approval on October 13 lets Robros put 20 walking humanoids beside workers at Nepes, Sungwoo Hitech, HD Hyundai Samho and Delivery Lab, lifting a fence rule written for fixed industrial robots. Set against MEKAWIRE's records, the number is small: Hyundai plans 25,000 Atlas units, UBTech sold 921 full-size humanoids in six months and Figure says it builds one robot an hour. But Korea is the only market in our data where the state has formally changed who may let a humanoid work next to people, and that permission, not robot count, is what most factory deployments are still waiting for.

Unitree Robotics, the Hangzhou maker of quadruped and humanoid robots that listed on Shanghai's STAR Market in August 2026, now earns more from humanoids than from robot dogs. Its filings show 73.6% of humanoid revenue in the first nine months of 2025 came from research and education buyers, the central question for a company worth about RMB61 billion at its issue price.

Skild AI's $1.4 billion Series C, led by SoftBank, and Figure AI's $1 billion Series C, led by Parkway Venture Capital, are the two largest humanoid and embodied-AI rounds in MEKAWIRE's verified records since January 2025, and together make up 41% of the $5.86 billion disclosed across 22 rounds. Humanoid makers took 70% of disclosed money in 2025, but developers of robot foundation models have taken 71% in 2026 so far, and NVIDIA joined seven rounds without leading one.

The U.S. Army has named five winners of its xTechHumanoid competition after final demonstrations at Marine Corps Base Quantico, and only one of them, IHMC's Alex, is a complete humanoid robot. The other four supply power, touch sensing and command software, a mix that shows where the Army sees the bottlenecks in military humanoids.

Shipments of professional service robots rose 24% to almost 250,000 units in 2025, led by 117,500 transport and logistics robots, the International Federation of Robotics said on 30 September 2026. The IFR counted about 7,000 full-size humanoids sold worldwide and 174 humanoid makers, more than half of them in China, and said most humanoid uses still rely on teleoperation.

Direct Drive Tech, which makes direct-drive motor modules for household and wheel-legged robots, raised HK$1,080.0 million when it listed in Hong Kong on 29 September 2026. Robot-vacuum sensor supplier Camsense followed on 30 September with HK$682.0 million after retail investors oversubscribed its public tranche 3,546.91 times. Both companies depend on five customers for more than 80% of sales, their filings show.

Global humanoid robot shipments reached nearly 25,000 units in the first half of 2026, up 432.1% year on year, with market value above $740 million, IDC said on September 29. China took about 77.9% of shipments, Chinese vendors supplied more than 95%, and IDC raised its 2030 forecast by about 50% to more than 750,000 units.

D-Robotics, the robot-chip business Horizon Robotics stopped consolidating in March, said on 17 September 2026 it had closed a US$400 million Series C without naming a single investor or a valuation. The company says it has shipped more than 8 million Sunrise chips and that its newest S600 part won more than 20 robot customers within six months, including UBTECH, Fourier and Booster Robotics.

Excelland Robotics (Wuxi), ranked third in China's commercial service robot market, began trading in Hong Kong on 9 September 2026 after pricing 45 million H shares at HK$14.45, the bottom of its range, for gross proceeds of HK$650.2 million. Retail investors subscribed 140.02 times while the international tranche was covered only 0.99 times, and the prospectus shows a 2025 loss of RMB110.8 million on revenue of RMB317.7 million.

UBTech Robotics said revenue doubled to RMB1,269.1 million in the six months to June 30, 2026, driven by RMB590.3 million of full-size humanoid robot sales, up from RMB38.2 million a year earlier. The Hong Kong-listed company sold 921 Walker-class units and narrowed its loss for the period by 23.0% to RMB338.8 million, while one customer accounted for 24% of revenue.

Unitree Robotics began trading in Shanghai on August 19, 2026 under code 688836 after selling 40.4 million new shares at RMB150.80, raising gross proceeds of RMB6,099.32 million. The issue price values the Hangzhou humanoid and quadruped maker at about RMB60.99 billion, or 219.23 times 2025 earnings, against an industry average of 38.56 times cited in its own listing document.

Tesla said in its second-quarter 2026 update, released on July 22, that it has decommissioned the Model S and Model X lines in Fremont and is installing first-generation Optimus production lines, with production expected soon and the first robots reserved for an internal Optimus Academy that collects training data. Capital expenditure rose to $5.79 billion from $2.49 billion in the first quarter and free cash flow turned negative at minus $1.09 billion, while the update gave no robot unit count, no capacity figure and no date for Optimus Gen 3.

China's industry ministry said on July 20, 2026 that more than 230 companies have released over 400 embodied AI robot models and that full-year output of complete machines is expected to exceed 100,000 units. Official data show industrial robot output rose 28% in the first half and 29.0% to 729,352 sets in the first eight months, as Beijing pushes humanoids into real factories through a joint programme with the state asset regulator.

China's industry ministry and its state-asset regulator have launched a 2026 special action that requires each provincial region to open at least 20 real-world training scenes and each central state-owned enterprise at least 10. The notice, dated June 3 and published June 8, sets a year-end goal of more than 100 high-value application scenarios and the ability to deploy humanoid and embodied AI robots at a scale of tens of thousands of units.

UBTech Robotics said on April 24 that it had completed the transfer of shares tendered in its partial offer for Zhejiang Fenglong Electric, taking its holding to 93,979,906 A shares, about 43.01% of the company. The Hong Kong-listed humanoid maker paid RMB17.72 a share in both steps of a deal worth up to RMB1.67 billion and later amended terms to nominate seven of eight Fenglong directors.

Shanghai-based AgiBot told its 2026 partner conference on April 17 that revenue grew from RMB300,000 in 2023 to more than RMB1 billion in 2025, and that its ten-thousandth robot had rolled off the line this year. The company launched four hardware lines including the full-size Expedition A3, six models and a five-year ecosystem programme worth more than RMB2 billion.

UBTech Robotics said in its 2025 annual results that revenue from full-size humanoid robots rose 2,203.7% to RMB820.6 million on 1,079 units, lifting group revenue 53.3% to RMB2.0 billion. The net loss narrowed to RMB789.8 million, while three share placings raised RMB5.78 billion to fund capacity for more than 6,000 robots a year.

Hong Kong-listed cobot maker Dobot grew 2025 revenue 31.7% to RMB492.2 million, with embodied AI robots rising to RMB20.0 million from RMB3.9 million. Its net loss narrowed to RMB84.0 million, but the adjusted loss widened to RMB49.6 million as 39.3% of research spending went to embodied AI.

Hong Kong-listed warehouse robot maker Geek+ reported 2025 revenue of RMB3.17 billion, up 31.6%, and its first full-year adjusted net profit of RMB43.8 million, while its IFRS loss narrowed to RMB10.4 million. The United States became its largest single market and new orders rose 31.7% to RMB4.14 billion as the company pushes a warehouse foundation model and a wheeled humanoid toward production.

Shanghai-based AgiBot said on 30 March 2026 that its 10,000th humanoid robot had come off the production line, 112 days after it announced its 5,000th. The company said the step from 5,000 to 10,000 units ran four times faster than earlier phases, but its own December breakdown shows that only about a third of its fleet is full-size.

The Shanghai Stock Exchange accepted Unitree Robotics' application to list on the STAR Market on March 20, 2026, with the Hangzhou company seeking RMB4.202 billion. Its prospectus shows reviewed 2025 revenue of RMB1,708.21 million, up 335.36%, and more than 5,500 humanoids shipped in 2025, with humanoids overtaking quadrupeds as its largest product line.

Mind Robotics, the industrial AI robotics company founded and led by Rivian chief executive RJ Scaringe, said on March 11, 2026 that Accel and Andreessen Horowitz co-led a $500 million Series A, about four months after a $115 million seed. Rivian's filings show it deconsolidated the start-up in March, valued its remaining 37.6% at about $569 million using the Series A share price and recorded a $506 million gain, which by MEKAWIRE arithmetic implies an equity value near $1.51 billion.

Nanjing industrial robot maker Estun Automation began trading in Hong Kong on 9 March 2026 after pricing 96.78 million H shares at HK$15.36, raising HK$1.49 billion gross, with half of the net proceeds reserved for overseas plants, alliances and acquisitions. Its first annual results as a dual-listed company showed 2025 revenue up 21.93% and a small profit after a RMB810.93 million loss, while stabilisation buying down to HK$11.69 showed weak aftermarket demand.

Beijing humanoid robot maker Galbot announced on 2 March 2026 that it had closed a RMB 2.5 billion round, which Haidian district officials called the largest single financing in China's embodied AI sector. The state Big Fund invested in embodied AI for the first time through the National Artificial Intelligence Industry Investment Fund, alongside Sinopec, CITIC and SAIC's finance arm, and the Zhongguancun Science City administration put Galbot's valuation at RMB 20 billion.

A standards committee set up under China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology released the Humanoid Robot and Embodied Intelligence Standard System (2026 Edition) in Beijing on 28 February 2026. The six-part framework runs from AI "brains" and computing to joints, complete robots, applications and safety, and came with a first list of priority standard projects drafted with more than 70 leading companies.

Hyundai Motor Group agreed on February 27, 2026 to invest about 9 trillion won from 2026 in a robotics, AI and hydrogen hub at Saemangeum in North Jeolla. The plan includes a 400 billion won robot cluster with a finished-robot factory sized for about 30,000 units a year, a contract-manufacturing foundry and a parts complex, due in 2029, next to a 5.8 trillion won AI data centre scaled in phases to 50,000 GPUs.

Shenzhen-based LimX Dynamics said on 2 February 2026 it had closed a US$200 million Series B with investors including Stone Venture, JD, Oriental Fortune Capital, CoStone Capital and SAIC-backed Shangqi Capital. The round came three weeks after the launch of LimX COSA, the agentic operating system that runs its full-size humanoid Oli, and the company added a second US$200 million pre-IPO round 162 days later.

Figure AI on Jan. 27, 2026 released Helix 02, a robot foundation model that runs a humanoid from camera pixels and fingertip touch down to joint commands at 1 kHz, replacing 109,504 lines of hand-written C++ with a 10-million-parameter learned controller. The company showed a Figure 03 unloading and reloading a dishwasher across a full kitchen in a four-minute, 61-action run it says had no resets and no teleoperation.

Mobileye agreed on 5 January 2026 to buy Israeli humanoid developer Mentee Robotics for $900 million in cash and stock and closed the deal on 3 February. Its filings show chief executive Amnon Shashua, Mentee's chairman and co-founder, receives about $341 million and chief technology officer Shai Shalev-Shwartz about $118 million, with 90% of the founders' stock released only after two and four years. Mentee targets autonomous customer pilots in 2026 and series production in 2028.

OneRobotics, the Shenzhen company behind the SwitchBot smart home robots, began trading in Hong Kong on December 30, 2025 after pricing its H shares at HK$73.80 and raising gross proceeds of HK$1,640.01 million. The retail tranche was 254.50 times subscribed. The company sells most of its products in Japan and turned profitable only in the first half of 2025.

The National Development and Reform Commission said on November 27, 2025 that China now has more than 150 humanoid robot companies, over half of them start-ups or entrants from other industries, and that it must guard against near-identical products flooding the market. The agency said it will build industry standards plus entry and exit rules for embodied AI, even as listed and private robot makers raised billions in the same weeks.

UBTech Robotics agreed on 25 November 2025 to place 31.468 million new H shares at HK$98.80, raising about HK$3.11 billion, and earmarked 75% of the net proceeds for investing in or acquiring upstream and downstream companies. Eight days earlier the Shenzhen company said its Walker S2 industrial humanoid had entered mass production and delivery, with orders since the start of 2025 above RMB800 million.

Tesla shareholders approved the 2025 CEO Performance Award at the November 6, 2025 annual meeting, with 1,892,235,822 shares voting for and 564,940,908 against, according to Tesla's 8-K. The award of up to 423,743,904 restricted shares is split into 12 tranches, each earned only when a market capitalization step from $2 trillion to $8.5 trillion is paired with one of 12 operating milestones, among them the cumulative delivery of 1 million Bots, a category the award agreement defines to include Optimus.

XPeng used its 2025 AI Day in Guangzhou on 5 November to show a redesigned IRON humanoid with 82 degrees of freedom, 22-degree-of-freedom hands, three in-house Turing AI chips and an all-solid-state battery. The carmaker said it aims for large-scale mass production by the end of 2026, starting with guide and retail roles, and named Baosteel as an industrial partner.

AgiBot's acquisition vehicle Shanghai Zhiyuan Hengyue and a concert party now hold 63.6232% of Swancor Advanced Materials after holders tendered 135,663,336 shares at RMB7.78 in a partial offer that closed on 28 October 2025, Swancor disclosed on 30 October. With share transfers registered in September, the stake cost about RMB2.0 billion, and the filings say the buyer has no explicit plan to change Swancor's business within 12 months.

Unitree Robotics unveiled the H2 humanoid on 20 October 2025, a 1,820 mm, roughly 70 kg machine with 31 degrees of freedom and leg joints rated at up to 360 Nm. Its product pages now list the base model at US$29,900 before tax and shipping, or RMB 199,000 including tax, the only published price among the full-size humanoids compared here.

Beijing Yunji Technology raised HK$659.6 million in gross proceeds and began trading in Hong Kong on 16 October 2025 after retail investors subscribed for 5,657.20 times the shares on offer. A Suzhou state-owned vehicle took 39.83% of the deal, leaving a small free float behind the frenzy for a company that still loses money and earns most of its revenue from hotels.

Shanghai-based Fourier on 6 August 2025 introduced GR-3, a 165 cm, 71 kg humanoid with up to 55 degrees of freedom, 31 tactile sensors and a padded exterior, which it calls its first full-size 'Care-bot'. The third model in its GRx line is aimed at public service settings, children and older adults, with rehabilitation and health monitoring named as later uses. Fourier did not disclose a price.

Unitree Robotics on 25 July 2025 launched the R1 humanoid, about 25 kg with 26 joints, from RMB 39,900 in China and US$5,900 abroad. The price is 40.3% of what the company charged for its G1 at launch and sets a public benchmark for low-cost humanoids.

Beijing Geekplus Technology began trading in Hong Kong on July 9, 2025 under code 2590 after selling 161,405,800 H shares at HK$16.80, raising gross proceeds of HK$2,711.62 million. The retail tranche was subscribed 133.62 times and the international book 30.17 times, while four cornerstone investors led by Xiong'an Intelligent Robotics took about 26% of the deal.

Beijing embodied AI start-up Galbot completed a RMB 1.1 billion financing in June 2025 led by battery maker CATL and Puquan Capital, with China Development Bank's CDB Science and Technology Innovation, the Beijing Robotics Industry Fund and GGV Capital also investing, according to the Zhongguancun Science City administration. The deal took the company's funding over two years past RMB 2.4 billion and gave its synthetic data approach to robot learning a strategic industrial backer.

South Korea's Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy launched the K-Humanoid Alliance in Seoul on 10 April 2025, with about 40 companies, universities and other organisations signing a cooperation agreement aimed at making Korea the world's leading humanoid nation by 2030. The ministry expects more than 1 trillion won of public and private investment by 2030 and set 2028 targets for a shared robot AI foundation model and for humanoids under 60kg with more than 50 degrees of freedom.

Premier Li Qiang's 2025 Government Work Report, delivered to the National People's Congress on March 5, lists embodied AI alongside biomanufacturing, quantum technology and 6G as future industries Beijing will cultivate, and pledges a funding growth mechanism for them. The same report calls for intelligent robots as a new generation of smart terminals, a year after the 2024 report made no mention of embodied AI.