Robots flock to the Spring Festival Gala, spending 100 million yuan to compete in the industry's "positioning race"

Text | Fu Chong

Editor | Su Jianxun

In August 2025, Zhou Le, the marketing director of a robotics company, went to CCTV to inquire about the cost of performing at the Spring Festival Gala in the Year of the Horse in 2026. At the beginning of the year, Unitree robots wearing flowered cotton - padded jackets and twirling handkerchiefs became an overnight sensation at the 2025 Spring Festival Gala.

At that moment, an idea was planted in Zhou Le's mind: one day, he would also push his company's robots onto the Spring Festival Gala stage.

However, reality quickly brought Zhou Le back to his senses: the "starting price" for performing at the 2026 Spring Festival Gala in the Year of the Horse was as high as 100 million yuan.

"It's too expensive," was the first reaction shared by Zhou Le and his company's CEO.

Many embodied intelligence companies are in a phase of heavy cash - burning. The CEO of a certain embodied brain company once calculated an account for us: to train a model, a team of 10 people is needed, with an annual salary of about 20 million yuan; if using NVIDIA H200 graphics cards, the monthly cost would be 9 million yuan (including storage).

Whether to spend 100 million yuan on the Spring Festival Gala or allocate the funds to R & D and products is the reason why many robotics companies hesitate about "performing at the Spring Festival Gala".

"We are still considering. In the next few days, the management will make a final decision," another marketing director of a robotics company told Intelligent Emergence. However, this person also seemed very worried about the effect of performing at the Spring Festival Gala. "If it's just for show, it may over - inflate public expectations, which is not a good thing."

While "people like Zhou Le" were deterred, four companies, Unitree Technology, Galaxy Universal, Magic Atom, and Songyan Power, "gathered" to officially announce that they would perform at the Spring Festival Gala stage.

"Performing at the Spring Festival Gala may change the current pattern of the embodied intelligence industry. In essence, it's about buying a 12 - month opportunity," said investor Li Fang to the author. The company he works for is the investment institution of several robotics companies performing at the Spring Festival Gala.

Li Fang further explained, The Spring Festival Gala will build brand awareness among customers, thus facilitating purchase orders; orders bring cash flow, and sales data promote financing; these funds are then converted into research funds and engineering investment.

All of the above constitute the competitiveness of robotics companies. Making good use of this wave of traffic may improve a company's position in the industry ranking, and the industry only remembers the top few. Li Fang further pointed out that companies lacking orders or with a low market ranking may find it difficult to obtain financing in 2026 and may even face elimination in the end.

As for the "12 - month" period, it's an approximate range. But it's certain that after the 2027 Spring Festival Gala, there will be a new batch of "Spring Festival Gala robots".

Companies performing at the Gala spend a large amount of money, mostly aiming to gain a leading position in the industry's "positioning competition"; among companies not performing at the Gala, there are both anxious and rational camps.

What they're competing for is not the Spring Festival Gala admission ticket, but the valuation ranking

An investor revealed to Intelligent Emergence that the "cost" of performing at the Spring Festival Gala is not only in the form of cash. Some companies use equity to exchange for the opportunity to perform.

Whether to perform at the Gala or not tests a company's resources and the determination of its management.

In terms of industry ranking, embodied intelligence startups can be roughly divided into three tiers according to their valuations:

Companies with a valuation of over 10 billion yuan form the first tier. Currently, there are three companies generally recognized as being in the first tier in the industry, including ZHIYUAN ROBOTICS, and Galaxy Universal and Unitree Technology, which have officially announced their participation in the Spring Festival Gala this time.

The second tier consists of companies with a valuation between 5 billion and 10 billion yuan. Based on the current financing situation, representative companies are Xinghaitu and Zhujidongli.

Companies with a valuation below 5 billion yuan belong to the third tier. Songyan Power and Magic Atom, which have announced their participation in the Spring Festival Gala, are estimated by the industry to have a valuation below 3 billion yuan, falling within the range of the third tier.

△Estimated valuations, approximate rankings, and representative companies of each tier of embodied intelligence startups. Data: Internet 

The position also determines the different expectations of each company towards the Spring Festival Gala.

An embodied intelligence investor pointed out that for Unitree Technology and Galaxy Universal, performing at the Spring Festival Gala is more about enhancing their social influence in the secondary market; while for Songyan Power and Magic Atom, it's more like using the Spring Festival Gala to "get closer to the front - line position" and quickly establish their market coordinates. 

This judgment also corresponds to the respective rhythms of the companies.

Unitree Technology has started the listing process and completed IPO counseling in November 2025; Galaxy Universal completed the share - reform and renamed itself as a joint - stock company in December 2025, which is interpreted by the outside world as preparation for entering the secondary market.

Songyan Power gained popularity by ranking second in the 2025 "Human - Robot Marathon" and launched a humanoid robot named Xiaobumi Bumi with a pre - sale price of 9,998 yuan at the end of October 2025, which is in a price range that can attract the general public.

The core team of Magic Atom and Dreame Technology both come from the "Sky Workshop" of Tsinghua University. Dreame Technology mainly produces floor - sweeping robots and has accumulated experience in large - scale production and supply - chain management over the years. As a partner of Dreame Technology, Magic Atom can, to a certain extent, share the latter's supply - chain "foundation" if the order volume increases.

Show off their capabilities in their respective programs, but the real - world conversion outside the stage is the key

However, the attention brought by performing at the Gala is difficult to directly convert into financing or valuation. The improvement of the ranking depends more on whether the company can convert the traffic into commercial data performance.

According to the current information, the performances of the four robotics companies may involve different program types, mainly showcasing the capabilities that each company's robots are good at.

A source told us that Magic Atom may perform on stage with a popular singer, and Songyan Power may participate in language - based performances.

Intelligent Emergence verified the cooperation conditions for this Spring Festival Gala with Galaxy Universal, and the company clearly denied it. Galaxy Universal revealed to Intelligent Emergence that this time, it will abandon the "show - off" approach and choose a "practical" route. On the Spring Festival Gala stage, which focuses on visual appeal, it hopes to convey the impression that "Chinese embodied intelligence is also very practical" through a few - minute program.

BlueRun Ventures, the investor of Galaxy Universal, told Intelligent Emergence that last year, Galaxy Universal robots demonstrated their working capabilities in the smart retail business scenario at multiple offline events, and they will also showcase similar capabilities at this year's Spring Festival Gala.

"Moreover, the Spring Festival Gala is an international stage, and overseas audiences will also see the performance of Chinese robots, which provides a cognitive basis for the company's future export expansion," BlueRun Ventures further added.

In other words, the Spring Festival Gala is not just about "showing off", but about integrating Galaxy Universal's real - world industrial implementation capabilities with the artistic expression of the Spring Festival Gala to tell a good story about Chinese technology to the world.

Robotics companies that are not performing at the Gala can't just sit idle.

"The robotics companies performing at the Gala are all working overtime now. Although our company is not performing at the Gala, we are also working overtime," said Wang Nan, who works at a robotics company.

Wang Nan felt the "anxiety of the boss" - the company has an important product in the final stage of R & D. Originally, they planned to launch it after the Spring Festival, but recently, the CEO ordered to complete it as soon as possible and launch it before the Spring Festival.

"The boss doesn't want to perform at the Gala, but also doesn't want to be out - shouted by competitors. So he wants to achieve something before other companies start to dominate the headlines," Wang Nan interpreted.

Among the companies not performing at the Gala, ZHIYUAN ROBOTICS, also in the first tier, provides a calm contrast.

Multiple sources confirmed to Intelligent Emergence that ZHIYUAN ROBOTICS will not appear on the Spring Festival Gala stage.

Intelligent Emergence verified this rumor with a management member of ZHIYUAN ROBOTICS. The person pointed out that the core reason lies in the cost - effectiveness judgment: after seeing robots singing and dancing for a year, the public may experience aesthetic fatigue; moreover, if it is judged that the Spring Festival Gala can significantly change the company's industry position, such an investment is not unacceptable, but at the current stage, the Spring Festival Gala is more of a "icing on the cake" rather than a decisive factor for ZHIYUAN ROBOTICS.

This management member pointed out that from the perspective of cost - effectiveness, it is more in line with the company's development stage to invest hundreds of millions of yuan in product R & D.

Moreover, the Spring Festival Gala is not the end. The real test begins after the performance is over.

"Whether it's about brand awareness or technical level, the ranking of a robotics company in the industry has never been determined by single - point show - off, but by the 'hexagonal' comprehensive capabilities in technology, brand, engineering, business, delivery, and service," investor Li Fang pointed out.

The Spring Festival Gala can bring a starting - line advantage, but the real competition starts after the stage lights go out.

(Zhou Le, Wang Nan, and Li Fang are pen names)

Cover image source | AI - generated