"Robot+" Gross Margin Approaches 60%! Unitree Robotics IPO Question: How to Protect the Moat Before the "Brain" Matures

Chinatimes.net.cn Reporter Shi Feiyue, Beijing

After much anticipation, it finally happened. On the evening of March 20, the Shanghai Stock Exchange officially disclosed the listing application of Yushu Technology. This long-awaited robotics company has taken a crucial step toward the STAR Market. Looking at the prospectus, Yushu Technology’s financial data is quite impressive: although not large in scale, it has maintained profitability for two consecutive years. Industry insiders believe this is largely due to the company moving faster than other startups by nearly a year, giving it a “time advantage” in its success.

However, behind these impressive numbers, the real test has just begun. The robotics industry is still in its early stages of commercialization, and although Yushu Technology is now among the industry leaders, it faces an unavoidable challenge: with the “brain” of the robot significantly lagging behind the “body” and “small brain,” how can it sustain high growth? Recently, founder Wang Xingxing stated that it will take another two to three years for the embodied intelligence industry to reach the true “GPT moment.”

Revenue and profit surge together

Yushu Technology previously posted that it expected to submit filing documents to the securities exchange in Q4 last year, but this wait lasted more than half a year. This may be related to the pre-review mechanism. Along with the disclosure of the prospectus, the SSE also published two “pre-review” documents, indicating that Yushu Technology is the second company after Changxin Technology to have its IPO pre-review mechanism implemented on the STAR Market.

On June 18, 2025, the China Securities Regulatory Commission issued the “Opinions on Setting Up the Science and Technology Innovation Board’s Growth Layer to Enhance Systemic Tolerance and Adaptability,” introducing the “1+6” reform measures, including a pilot pre-review mechanism for high-quality tech companies’ IPOs. On July 13 of the same year, the Shanghai Stock Exchange officially released and implemented the “Guidelines for the Application of the Issuance and Listing Review Rules No. 7—Pre-Review.” The SSE uses pre-review to urge issuers and intermediaries to improve the quality of IPO application documents and promote review efficiency.

Consistent with earlier reports, Yushu Technology has already achieved profitability for two consecutive years, not disappointing investors.

According to the prospectus, from 2022 to 2025, net profits attributable to the parent company were -22.1 million yuan, -11.1 million yuan, 94.5 million yuan, and 288 million yuan; after deducting non-recurring gains and losses, net profits were -8.07 million yuan, -18.02 million yuan, 77.5 million yuan, and 600 million yuan. The significant difference between net profit attributable to the parent and non-recurring profit in 2022 and 2025 is explained by the recognition of share-based payment expenses.

It’s clear that Yushu Technology’s profits saw a notable increase in 2024 and 2025, mainly driven by overall revenue growth. From 2022 to 2025, the company’s revenue was 123 million yuan, 160 million yuan, 392 million yuan, and 1.708 billion yuan. This also led to a continuous increase in gross profit margin, which was 44.94%, 44.75%, and 56.98% in 2022, 2023, and 2024, respectively—higher than listed competitors like Ubtech and Yujian. In the first nine months of 2025, the gross margin reached 59.83%.

Currently, Yushu Technology’s main revenue comes from quadruped robots and humanoid robots, with robot components and other sources accounting for a smaller share. In 2022, 2023, 2024, and the first nine months of 2025, the company sold over 30,000 quadruped robots. In 2025, the shipment of humanoid robots exceeded 5,500 units (pure humanoids, excluding wheeled dual-arm robots), ranking first globally. Quadruped robots are widely used in scientific research, industrial inspection, emergency rescue, and intelligent services. Humanoid robots are used in scientific research, application development, education, cultural performances, and smart services.

This critical turning point coincides with Yushu robots appearing on the Spring Festival Gala. The influence of the Gala’s publicity is evident, and this “going viral” effect has prompted many robotics companies to compete for a spot on this year’s stage.

Zhang Yi, CEO and chief analyst at iiMedia Research, told Huaxia Times that if Yushu Technology successfully lists, in the short term, driven by high growth in 2025, the scarcity of the track, a valuation exceeding 100 billion yuan after the last funding round, and the momentum of the STAR Market’s high-tech sector, the stock could see a significant premium within six months of listing. “But the industry is still in the early stages of commercialization, the novelty wears off quickly, and competition barriers are rising. Mid-term, valuations will revert to performance and commercialization results. Currently, Yushu Technology is only about a year ahead of peers, but this gap is rapidly closing—expected to shrink to four months within two years. Overall, a decline in market value within two to three years is highly probable. The key to Yushu’s leadership is its ability to transition from a hardware company to a platform-based company, and this time difference is a crucial advantage.”

“Brain” shortcomings need addressing

Last year’s “viral” success and public curiosity about robots have been catalysts for Yushu Technology’s sales surge, especially for humanoid robots.

In previous years, quadruped robots contributed the most revenue for Yushu Technology. Starting last year, the revenue share of humanoid robots surpassed that of quadruped robots. In the first three quarters of 2025, revenue from humanoid robots was 595 million yuan, accounting for 51.53% of total revenue; revenue from quadruped robots was 488 million yuan, accounting for 42.25%. In 2023 and 2024, the revenue shares were 1.88% and 75.78%, and 27.6% and 59.53%, respectively.

However, humanoid robots are still in the early development stage. The prospectus emphasizes the company’s advantages in robot motion control—namely, the “body” and “small brain”—such as winning 11 medals at the first World Humanoid Robot Sports Games, demonstrating excellent performance and reliability in high-dynamic tasks like running and obstacle courses.

But in terms of “brain” capabilities, Yushu Technology has yet to achieve concrete results, which is its current biggest shortcoming. Wang Xingxing recently said that the true “GPT moment” for embodied intelligence is still a few years away. “Some industry folks are optimistic and think it can happen in 18 months, but I’m a bit more cautious—at least two to three years. Still, the process will be very fast.”

Therefore, a major use of funds in this IPO is for the development of intelligent robot models. According to the prospectus, Yushu Technology plans to issue no less than 40.45 million new shares, raising 4.202 billion yuan, with a total planned investment of 2.022 billion yuan in the intelligent robot model R&D project.

Notably, in the first three quarters of 2025, revenue reached 1.167 billion yuan, while R&D expenses were only 90.21 million yuan, accounting for just 7.73% of operating income. For a tech company, this ratio is quite low. Yushu Technology explains that the rapid revenue growth outpaces the reasonable increase in R&D expenses, and under scale effects, the R&D expense ratio has decreased. Even in 2024, R&D expenses accounted for only 17.84%, lower than Ubtech’s 36.63% and Yujian’s 19.21%.

Of course, Yushu Technology has made some progress in “brain” development. The company states that it has integrated relatively mature large language models into products like G1. However, since global embodied large model technologies are still in R&D and testing phases, the company has not yet scaled its self-developed general embodied large models for robot products. It has, however, conducted R&D testing and deployment in pilot scenarios at its own factories, with corresponding technical reserves.

While waiting for the “brain” to mature, how will Yushu Technology maintain high sales and performance growth amid the public’s waning curiosity? The Huaxia Times reporter contacted Yushu Technology for comment but has not received a reply as of press time.

“Before the ‘brain’ matures, Yushu Technology relies on the advantages of the ‘small brain’ (motion control) and extreme cost reduction to sustain growth. Through full-stack self-research, it lowers the price of humanoid robots to trigger ‘volume explosion,’ while expanding into diverse scenarios like power inspection, commercial performances, and overseas markets to ensure continuous revenue,” said Zhang Xiaorong, director of DeepTech Research Institute.

Editor: Huang Xingli Chief Editor: Han Feng