🟠 Unitree goes public

We were there before

April 13, 2026

Unitree goes public. We were there before.

Last week, we took the CEO of Europe's largest fully digital hospitality provider to Hangzhou.

His question: Will robotics be the next revolution for the hotel industry after AI?

One stop: Unitree headquarters. Including box sparring with the latest humanoid, at the same place where Chancellor Merz recently stood.

The timing couldn't have been better. Unitree has just filed for its IPO on the Shanghai STAR Market. 
Target proceeds: 4.2 billion yuan.

  • The valuation could exceed 100 billion yuan (~$14.6 billion) post-IPO. In 2025, Unitree delivered around 5,500 humanoid robots, revenue 1.7 billion yuan (~$249 million), up 335% year-over-year.

Unitree is not an isolated case. In 2025, around 13,000 humanoid robots were sold worldwide. 90% came from China. AgiBot has just delivered its 10,000th robot. The Chinese humanoid market will break the 20 billion yuan mark in 2026 (~$2.9 billion).

What our guest took away from China:

  • Hardware is catching up with software.
    Robotics feels like AI 3-5 years ago: not perfect, but the leap from demo to real deployment is happening now.

  • 60-70% physical automation in 5 years.
    That was the number several operators on site mentioned. The fully autonomous hotel is no longer science fiction.

  • Integration beats replacement.
    The winners will use robotics to deliver more consistent guest experiences at higher efficiency. Not replacing people, but removing bottlenecks.

His conclusion:

❝

"We're still early. But the trajectory is clear."

Every good answer starts with the right question.

Our Bespoke Days bring you directly to the table with the people who are redefining hardware, robotics, and AI in China right now.

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CHART OF THE WEEK 

Beijing is aggressively diversifying away from the dollar.

China's Treasury holdings have fallen to $683 billion - the lowest level since 2008. At the same time, the PBOC has been buying gold without pause for 14 months.

The official numbers only show the tip: Analysts from SocGen estimate that China's actual gold purchases in 2025 were ten times higher than the reported 26 tons.

The trigger? The SWIFT sanctions against Russia in 2022 showed how quickly dollar assets can be frozen.

5 STORIES YOU MISSED THIS WEEK 

🇺🇸 US moves to ban Chinese robots from government buildings: Senators Cotton and Schumer have introduced the American Security Robotics Act, a bipartisan bill that would bar Chinese-made humanoid robots from all federal facilities. Companies like Unitree and UBTech, whose machines are already being tested in U.S. warehouses, would be directly affected. The concern: these robots continuously map their surroundings and transmit data. It would be the first law restricting humanoids by country of origin, following the Huawei and DJI playbook.

🇯🇵 Honda scraps three EVs and kills the Afeela: Honda has canceled three planned electric vehicles and dissolved its joint venture with Sony. The Afeela sedan, met with standing ovations at CES 2024, will never reach a dealership. Restructuring costs: up to $15.7 billion. Honda is pivoting to hybrids, effectively handing the premium EV segment to Chinese competitors and Tesla. Toyota, Hyundai, and BYD are meanwhile expanding their EV pipelines.

🇨🇳 Chinese airlines grab Europe while rivals bleed: Air China, China Eastern, and China Southern have added 2,350 flights to Western Europe this season. Their edge: Russian airspace. While European carriers pay $15,000-$30,000 extra per flight to detour around Iran, Chinese airlines fly the direct route over Russia. A Frankfurt-Shanghai return in June: €870 on Air China versus €1,008 on Lufthansa. Industry analysts call it "a reshaping of competitive economics on Europe-Asia routes."

🇯🇵 Mitsubishi's biggest deal ever: Mitsubishi Corp. is acquiring U.S. gas producer Aethon Energy for $7.53 billion, backed by a $2.38 billion state loan from JBIC. Aethon's output covers roughly a quarter of Japan's annual LNG demand. Tokyo Gas and JERA are making similar moves to secure American energy assets. When a state bank covers a third of the deal, this is industrial policy, not just M&A.

🇨🇳 EngineAI lands Apple's top supplier: Humanoid robotics maker EngineAI has closed a $200 million Series B at a $1.4 billion valuation. The headline: Luxshare Precision, Apple's most important Chinese supplier, joined the cap table. Luxshare builds iPhones, AirPods, and Apple Watches at massive scale. That manufacturing DNA is exactly what EngineAI needs now: 4,000-5,000 humanoids are slated for delivery in 2026, scaling to 30,000-50,000 per year by 2027. The flagship T800 starts at $25,000.

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