From English failures to billionaire founder, Wang Xingxing drives Unitree's robot IPO

Wang Xingxing, a 36-year-old engineer who struggled with English in school, founded Unitree in 2016 and led it to become the top global manufacturer of humanoid robots by 2025. The company went public on the Shanghai Stock Exchange on August 19, with opening prices near $22 and closing at $125, inflating its market value from $9 billion to about $50 billion. Investor enthusiasm was intense, as retail orders outnumbered the float by 8,000-to-1, though the shares have since fallen roughly 35%, fueling speculation about a bubble.

Unitree, officially Yushu Technology, sold over 5,500 bipedal robots in 2025, earning €215 million in revenue and €36 million in profit, while also offering robotic arms and sensors. Wang, who serves as both CEO and CTO, attributes his success to practical tinkering rather than academic accolades, recalling early projects from a turbojet engine to a low-cost quadruped robot that won a national competition. Despite viral videos of dancing and martial-arts robots, most sales go to universities and research labs, and Wang warns that a transformative “ChatGPT moment” for humanoid robots may still be years away.