China Is Winning the Robot Race. Unitree Just Proved It.

While the US debates when humanoid robots will actually ship, Unitree has been shipping them for years, and on August 19, 2026 it went public on Shanghai's STAR Market under the code 688836. This is the moment the robotics race stopped being a thought experiment and became a tradeable asset. Here's what happened with Unitree, and how to get exposure through Unitree perps on Liquid.

The Unitree Story, in Brief

Unitree isn't a pitch deck. It's the world's top-selling humanoid robot maker, and one of the only companies in the space that's actually profitable. The Hangzhou-based firm raised roughly $610–618 million in its IPO, selling 40.45 million shares (10% of its enlarged share capital) at ¥150.80 per share, a valuation of about $9 billion at pricing. The market had other ideas: the stock closed its first day of trading up 487%. Unitree shipped around 5,500 humanoid units in 2025 alone, more than any competitor worldwide, on $235 million in revenue and 60% gross margins.

Unitree's robots have danced on national television at the CCTV Spring Festival Gala two years running, making the company a household name in China. Chairman Wang Xingxing has talked about a robotics "ChatGPT moment" arriving within years, not decades. Now Unitree is putting real capital behind that bet: roughly half the IPO proceeds are earmarked for training its own AI models, and the rest funds a new factory built to produce 75,000 humanoid robots and 115,000 quadrupeds a year.

That's the Unitree pitch in one line: China isn't just building robots, it's building the company that makes robots at scale, profitably, right now.

Why This Matters Beyond China

Humanoid robotics is shaping up to be one of the defining hardware races of the decade, and Unitree is currently the company setting the pace on cost, shipments, and commercialization, the three things that turn a robotics demo into a real market.

Whether Unitree can keep that lead against Boston Dynamics, Tesla, and a fast-consolidating field of domestic rivals is the multi-year story here. The IPO was the first real market price on that story, and a 487% first day showed how much demand had been waiting for it.

Trade Unitree on Liquid

You don't need a Shanghai brokerage account or STAR Market access to get exposure. Liquid lets you trade a market that tracks Unitree's price without you needing to own or settle the underlying shares. Like Liquid's other newly listed names such as SpaceX, the Unitree market trades 24/7, long or short, with leverage available if you want amplified exposure to how the stock moves. Check the live market for the current maximum multiplier.

A few things worth knowing before you open a position:

• Long or short. Think Unitree's post-IPO pop is overdone, or think the robotics race narrative has more room to run? Perps let you take either side.

• No expiry. Unlike traditional futures, Unitree perps on Liquid don't settle on a fixed date. You hold as long as you want, funding rate permitting.

• Leverage cuts both ways. Higher leverage means higher liquidation risk. Check Liquid Learn's guides on liquidation and stop losses before sizing a position.

Unitree is trading now. Head to Liquid to see the market and set up your first Unitree position.

Trade Unitree Perps on Liquid