Unitree starts IPO coaching

Background

Unitree is a Chinese robot maker whose products span quadruped robots (machines that walk on four legs) and humanoid robots (machines built around a human-like body plan). It sells complete robots and also components. Because the company publishes shipment figures, its business is one of the clearer windows onto how far the legged-robot industry has moved from demonstrations to volume sales.

What happened

In July 2025 Unitree started IPO coaching, the preparatory stage Chinese companies go through before applying to list. CITIC Securities is the coaching institution, according to the CSRC website as reported by Securities Times^[1]. During coaching a securities firm works with the company on internal governance, accounting practice and information disclosure, so that it meets the standards a listed company has to keep. Coaching is not a listing; it is the step that comes before the application is filed.

According to China Securities Journal, Unitree said it expected to submit listing application documents to a stock exchange between October and December^[2].

The business behind the filing

The figures reported alongside the coaching news show a company whose revenue still comes mostly from machines with four legs. In 2024 Unitree sold 23,700 quadruped robots, a 69.75% share of the global market, and delivered 1,500 humanoid robots^[1]. The 2024 sales split was about 65% quadruped robots, 30% humanoid robots and 5% components^[2]. The quadruped line, the older and cheaper product, carried the business, while humanoids had already grown into roughly a third of sales.

Orders in 2025 point toward industrial buyers. In July 2025 Unitree won a 46.05 million yuan share of a 124 million yuan procurement of humanoid biped robots by China Mobile^[1]. Founder Wang Xingxing said industrial robot orders grew 220% year on year in 2025, with contract value above 1.2 billion yuan^[1].

Why it matters

Coaching and a listing application move a legged-robot company onto a public exchange, where revenue, margins and shipment volumes have to be reported on a regular schedule. That is a change of footing: much of what the industry says about itself has come in the form of company statements rather than audited filings. For buyers of robots, which include industrial firms and state-owned enterprises making multi-year plans, a supplier's standing is part of the purchasing decision.

For the field as a whole, a public filing fixes the units. Market share, delivery counts and order value become numbers disclosed year after year, and can be read next to each other instead of being taken one company at a time.