Unitree and Zhipu are competing for the Spring Festival Gala sponsorship. Will robots make dumplings on the Lunar New Year's Eve of the Year of the Horse?

The sponsorship amount has reached 100 million yuan.

A group of embodied intelligence companies are competing for the sponsorship qualification of the 2026 Spring Festival Gala of China Media Group, which falls in the Year of the Horse in the Chinese lunar calendar.

During the 2025 Spring Festival Gala in the Year of the Snake, Unitree robots performed the yangge dance and became one of the most eye - catching programs of that year's gala, which also triggered a year - long boom in embodied intelligence. This year, the Spring Festival Gala has become a high - ground that embodied intelligence companies need to seize. Many insiders said, "Many robot companies have bid for the sponsorship."

According to the process of the Spring Festival Gala, usually several companies in one category will compete simultaneously, "fighting tooth and nail." The final decision on success or failure is not only based on the sponsorship amount but also on considerations such as brand image and company development.

Currently, the competition between Zhipu and Unitree is the most intense. To compete for the rights and interests of the largest sponsor, Zhipu Robotics offered 60 million yuan first. Then, Unitree Technology directly raised the bid to 100 million yuan.

This price has discouraged many embodied intelligence companies. A person from a first - tier robot brand said that they initially wanted to participate in the competition, but after hearing the quotes from "the top two companies," they thought it was "too scary" and had to silently withdraw from the competition.

As of now, many people revealed that "many companies are still competing, and it's not yet determined who will be the ultimate top player. The competition is still on."

The change of sponsors of the Spring Festival Gala is a brief history of China's economy: from early - stage liquor and home appliances to later internet giants (Alibaba, Tencent, Douyin). Each category that has occupied the core position on the Spring Festival Gala stage symbolizes the most active and most eager - to - break - out capital power of that era.

Embodied intelligence (robot) companies are rushing in with tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of funds, which shows that this industry is no longer satisfied with self - entertainment in the technology and investment circles. They need a national science popularization to complete the leap from "laboratory prototype" to "industrial product" and then to "mass consumer product," which also means that hard technology is becoming a new pillar industry.

However, the logic of embodied intelligence companies is not entirely the same as that of internet companies.

The logic of internet companies spending money on the Spring Festival Gala back then was very simple: viewers watched TV, shook their phones, got red envelopes, and the APP download volume skyrocketed instantly. It was a closed - loop, and traffic could be directly converted into users and transactions.

It's hard for us to imagine that the Spring Festival Gala can bring the same "explosion of users" to robots. After watching robots dance, viewers can't "download" a robot like they download an APP, and most families can't afford humanoid robots that cost tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of yuan. Currently, there are no mature consumer - end application scenarios for embodied intelligence.

Unitree's robot yangge dance was an extremely successful debut. Previously, we felt that robots were distant and cold metal shells, but Unitree forcibly combined the most cutting - edge hard technology (embodied intelligence) with the most down - to - earth folk culture (Northeast yangge dance). This visual impact of "cyberpunk" + "rural love" made both technology enthusiasts and ordinary people willing to learn about these eye - catching metal robots.

Unitree has proved that the Spring Festival Gala is a shortcut to transform "hard technology" into a "national brand" in a short time, which is why other embodied intelligence companies are interested in sponsorship. These startups are willing to spend tens of millions or hundreds of millions for a wonderful debut.

The year 2026 is the Year of the Horse in the Chinese lunar calendar. In the early days of agriculture and the Industrial Revolution, horses were the most important power partners of humans. Now, embodied intelligence is regarded as a productivity tool in the new era. If robots just perform the yangge dance again, it's hard to achieve the same effect as last year. This year, embodied intelligence companies need to show that robots can really participate in ordinary people's lives and bring daily convenience.

Maybe on the stage of the Spring Festival Gala in the Year of the Horse, we can see robots making dumplings together.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Sajia Junze." Author: Sajia Junze. Republished by 36Kr with permission.