Unitree IPO shifts focus to future

Chinese humanoid robot maker Unitree Robotics opened subscriptions for its initial public offering on the Shanghai Stock Exchange's sci-tech innovation board, or STAR Market, on Monday, as the market witnessed a broader economic shift with future industries expected to power the country's next wave of economic growth.

President Xi Jinping, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said in an article published in June in the Qiushi Journal, a flagship magazine of the CPC Central Committee, that cultivating and developing future industries are of great significance for seizing the development initiative, developing new quality productive forces and improving people's quality of life.

Efforts should be made to vigorously foster first-class scientific, technological and high-tech enterprises that excel in core technologies and possess strong innovation capacities, Xi said.

For decades, China's economic expansion was powered largely by traditional industries, infrastructure investment and manufacturing scale. But the next wave of growth is increasingly expected to come from future industries, including embodied intelligence, future energy, quantum technology, brain-computer interfaces and 6G, which have been highlighted as key areas in China's 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30).

Since leading semiconductor firm ChangXin Memory Technologies debuted on the STAR Market in late July, a number of companies including artificial intelligence chip developer Enflame Technology, semiconductor manufacturer Can-Semi Technology, commercial rocket maker LandSpace and AI chip company Kunlunxin have been moving toward potential listings.

Behind the wave of listings is not just a reshuffle of capital market preferences, but a transformation in the sources of future economic growth.

Hu Yongjun, secretary-general of future industries and platform economy research center under the State Information Center, said: "Developing future industries is a key move in driving industrial transformation and upgrade. Technologies that appear to be in an exploratory stage today could become engines of economic growth over the next decade or more."

He said that future industries will fuel China's economic growth through new trillion-yuan-level industries that will come about as emerging technologies transform into commercial applications, and traditional industries are upgraded by integrating technologies such as AI, digitalization and low-carbon solutions.

"More importantly, future industries are not simply about developing several new products. They could accelerate upgrades across an entire industrial chain, from core components to end-user applications," he said.

A humanoid robot illustrates this ecosystem effect. Behind a single robot are dozens of interconnected sectors, including AI models, chips, sensors, precision reducers, motors, batteries, new materials, industrial software and intelligent manufacturing equipment.

China's electric vehicle industry offers a similar example. Over the past decade, the rise of new energy vehicles has reshaped the global auto industry while driving rapid growth in power batteries, energy storage materials, intelligent driving technologies and automotive chips.

In addition, the Unitree IPO and other upcoming listings represent a broader reallocation of capital toward technologies that may require years of investment before generating large-scale commercial returns.

Xi also stressed efforts to improve fiscal and taxation policies, vigorously develop technology finance, and optimize government procurement and talent cultivation, introduction and utilization to foster a robust environment that encourages innovation.

Tian Xuan, dean of Peking University's Guanghua School of Management, said: "China is transiting from factor-driven growth toward innovation-driven development. Capital is moving beyond its traditional role of financing capacity expansion in mature industries and increasingly taking on the earlier-stage, longer-term uncertainty involved in building future industries."

As of June 2026, the STAR Market had attracted 609 hard technology companies, with total funds raised through IPOs and refinancing exceeding 1.37 trillion yuan ($203 billion). More than 40 listed companies on the market have also entered cutting-edge fields such as quantum technology, 6G and biomanufacturing.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission has also introduced a regular "green channel" mechanism for IPO financing and mergers and acquisitions involving technology companies in strategically important core technology areas.

For instance, Unitree Robotics moved rapidly through the listing process, taking less than four months to go from the application acceptance stage to approval, marking the fastest review under the STAR Market's preliminary review mechanism since its implementation.

"Amid the rapid development of AI, rising geopolitical tensions and a growing emphasis on strategic security, China needs to build a financial system better aligned with the development of new quality productive forces," Tian said.

"This requires expanding the supply of patient capital, improving market structures, enhancing policy predictability and reducing resource misallocation, thereby providing sustained and solid financial support for innovation," he added.

chengyu@chinadaily.com.cn