(Yicai) May 26 -- China’s humanoid robot stocks surged today after the Shanghai Stock Exchange said it will review Unitree Robotics' initial public offering application on June 1, bringing the fast-growing robotics startup a step closer to a CNY4.2 billion (USD619.4 million) listing aimed at boosting product development and manufacturing capacity.

Swancor Advanced Materials [SHA: 688585] surged 18.1 percent to close at CNY221 (USD32) and CSB [SHE: 300718] soared 15 percent before ending the day up 9.4 percent at CNY86.49 (USD12).

Several other companies soared by the exchange-imposed limit. Shenzhen WOTE Advanced Materials [SHE: 002886] and Sunyes Manufacturing (Zhejiang) Holding [SHE: 002388] both jumped 10 percent to hit CNY31.59 and CNY6.44 respectively.

Unitree, which specializes in high-performance general-purpose humanoid robots, quadruped robots, robot components and embodied artificial intelligence models, had its IPO application accepted by the Shanghai bourse on March 20.

The funds raised will go toward developing smart robot models, robot hardware, new intelligent robot development, and building a smart robot factory, according to its IPO prospectus.

The Hangzhou-based firm has logged explosive growth in the last few years. Net profit swung to CNY590 million (USD87 million) last year from a loss of CNY18 million (USD2.6 million) in 2023, while operating revenue soared more than 10-fold to CNY1.7 billion (USD250 million), according to the prospectus. And the gross margin of its core business swelled to 60 percent from 40 percent over the period.

However, this year the company got off to a slower start due to a sharp increase in spending on R&D and sales costs, according to the prospectus. Net profit plunged 52.6 percent in the first three months from a year ago to CNY40.2 million (USD5.9 million) while revenue surged 68.5 percent to CNY420 million (USD61.8 million). This was much slower than last year’s 333 percent leap in earnings.

Unitree said that it hiked spending on research and development as well as new product development in areas such as robot hardware, structural design, embodied AI large models and motion-control algorithms in the first quarter. It also expanded its R&D team, which pushed up research expenses by CNY38.3 million (USD5.6 million) from the year before.

On top of that, Unitree spent heavily on marketing and brand promotion during the 2026 CCTV Spring Festival Gala at the start of the year, which also increased sales expenses and dragged down first-quarter profits.

Editor: Kim Taylor