With an imminent listing, Wang Xingxing of Unitree has started to look down on AI models.

Interesting things always happen at the same time.

At the 2025 World Robot Conference (WRC), Wang Xingxing, the founder of Unitree Technology, which has sold quadruped robot dogs to the top in the world, a post - 90s generation regarded as a hardware genius by the outside world, spoke bluntly to the audience below. He said that in the field of robotics, hardware has come a long way, and the real trouble is that "AI models are completely inadequate."

Moreover, he even said straightforwardly that the VLA model, which is being pursued by everyone in the industry, is a bit of a "foolish architecture." In a word, he poured cold water on the whole industry's enthusiasm: We have built the body, but the soul is still floating in mid - air.

Almost at the same time when he said this, across the ocean, NVIDIA under the leadership of Jensen Huang gave his answer on the stage of the SIGGRAPH 2025 conference.

NVIDIA's physical AI large - scale model, Cosmos, is an ambitious and almost audacious plan - in the virtual world, use endless synthetic data to "ripen" the not - so - smart "brain" of robots.

One is crying out for help, and the other is directly serving the dish. The "cooperation" between the two companies is almost perfectly false, a precise connection between the real pain points and solutions in the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain.

However, to fully understand this drama, one cannot just focus on Wang Xingxing. One also has to look at another key figure in China for Jensen Huang, Liang Wenfeng, who is equally young but even more "stimulating" to him.

The stories of these three people are intertwined, forming a complete script about robots, AI, and the most core contradictions of this era.

The Favored One

Wang Xingxing's actions are quite abnormal.

What do founders of a company about to go public usually do? Announce good news, paint a rosy picture, and convey confidence.

But Wang Xingxing did none of these. At the moment when the capital market most needed to hear the "grand narrative," he voluntarily exposed the deepest anxiety in the entire industry.

On July 18, the official website of the China Securities Regulatory Commission disclosed the IPO counseling record of Unitree Technology, with CITIC Securities as the counseling institution. This news caused quite a stir in the capital market. Just three months ago, Unitree Technology completed its Series C financing. Giants such as Tencent, Alibaba Group, Geely, and China Mobile joined hands rarely, pushing its valuation directly from 7 billion yuan to 12 billion yuan.

At such a delicate time point, Wang Xingxing's actions that almost ignored the short - term "listing rules" can only indicate one thing: He has someone behind him, a "supporter" so powerful that he can ignore short - term market sentiment and face the fundamental problems of the industry head - on - Jensen Huang and his NVIDIA.

At the age of 26, Wang Xingxing left DJI and founded Unitree Technology. He said that he named it "Unitree" because he hoped to help humans light up the technology tree.

His way of lighting up the technology tree was simple, direct, and even a bit rough. At that time, the benchmark in the robotics field was Boston Dynamics in the United States. Their products had top - notch technology but also top - notch prices, often costing hundreds of thousands or even millions. Wang Xingxing did the opposite. He insisted on using more cost - effective and flexible electric drive technology, bypassing the hydraulic system that Boston Dynamics had been deeply involved in for many years.

Of course, this magic did not happen out of thin air. When he was overcoming those complex motion control algorithms, NVIDIA's shadow was behind him. As early as 2020, NVIDIA placed an order with Unitree. These "tin toys" that were once looked down upon by domestic investors were quietly bought by Silicon Valley giants for internal research.

At the "grand finale" of the 2024 NVIDIA GTC conference, Jensen Huang appeared with nine humanoid robots. Among them, the second humanoid robot from the left was the Unitree H1 under Unitree Technology.

Then, Wang Xingxing brought down the price. When Unitree Technology launched the humanoid robot G1 priced at 99,000 yuan, the entire industry was shocked. Wang Xingxing's idea was very simple: "I want more people to start using robots first."

Screenshot from the official website of Unitree Technology

The market reward was amazing. Unitree's robot dogs occupied nearly 70% of the global market share. Google, Amazon, and NVIDIA all became its customers. Its robots appeared on the stage of the CCTV Spring Festival Gala and danced with the actors.

By then, Wang Xingxing had reached the highlight moment of his life. He not only became a popular tech star but also attended the symposium for private entrepreneurs after the Spring Festival.

However, after the victory, troubles also came. Many users who ordered Unitree robots posted reviews on various social platforms, saying that there was a big gap between the robot's functions and the promotion. "I spent more than 100,000 yuan to buy a toy." Those who earned 10,000 yuan a day by renting Unitree robots in February found that the robots could no longer be rented out in April.

However, amidst all the controversial voices, NVIDIA always stood firmly by Unitree's side.

In February, the research teams of Carnegie Mellon University and NVIDIA jointly released the ASAP framework and applied it to the G1 humanoid robot of Unitree Technology. The released videos show that the G1 can perform complex actions such as shooting and dribbling between the legs like sports superstars Cristiano Ronaldo, Kobe Bryant, and LeBron James.

A top academic institution and a tech giant joining hands to "show off the skills" of a startup's product. Jensen Huang would definitely not treat any ordinary customer like this.

So, when Wang Xingxing said that "AI models are not enough," it should be understood from another perspective. He was not expressing dissatisfaction but rather showing off. His subtext was: Look, the top - notch tools that NVIDIA gave me are almost used up. We have jointly explored the current technological boundaries.

The Leather - Jacket Man and His "Virtual Universe"

Jensen Huang heard Wang Xingxing's voice.

Or rather, he had been waiting for such a voice.

The launch of the Cosmos platform was as precisely timed as a surgical operation. When Wang Xingxing complained about the lack of data, Jensen Huang provided a "virtual world" that could generate massive amounts of synthetic data; when Wang Xingxing complained that the model was too stupid, Jensen Huang presented a reasoning model, Cosmos Reason, with 7 billion parameters.

He is not selling products; he is selling a future, a future of "simulation first."

He told everyone that training robots in the real world is too slow, too expensive, and too dangerous. The only way out is to let AI evolve safely and efficiently in the "virtual parallel universe" he has built. He took autonomous driving as an example: "We can never put a child in front of a car as a training sample. It is immoral and dangerous... The real choice is only through simulation."

This logic is almost irresistible to people like Wang Xingxing who are eager to make robots "enlightened."

Jensen Huang is a shrewd businessman, a CEO known as the "golden salesperson" by his employees and famous for his crazy work ethic. He works seven days a week and is constantly thinking about the company's future. He deeply understands the importance of the Chinese market. In 2024, the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong markets contributed $17.1 billion in revenue to NVIDIA. So he has come to China again and again. His trip to Beijing in July was his third visit this year.

He stood next to a Xiaomi car, wearing his iconic black leather jacket, and took a photo with Lei Jun of Xiaomi, even under the scorching sun in Beijing's midsummer. Then, he would take off his leather jacket, put on a Tang suit, and give a speech in somewhat stilted Chinese, praising "China's open - source AI as a catalyst for global progress."

At the company's annual meeting in 2024, Jensen Huang even wore a traditional northeastern floral - printed jacket and clumsily danced the yangge. Coincidentally, just one year after he danced the yangge, Unitree's robots performed a very similar "Yangge - BOT" on the Spring Festival Gala stage.

Screenshot from Weibo @CCTV Video

Just a few days before appearing on the Spring Festival Gala, Wang Xingxing also attended a NVIDIA dinner and sat next to Jensen Huang. It's hard to believe that there is no understanding between them.

At that time, Wang Xingxing also posted a photo with Jensen Huang on his personal social platform and said, "A new year, a new start, come on!" Wang He, the founder and CTO of Galaxy Universal, also sat next to Jensen Huang at the dinner.

It was this combination at the dinner that made a grand appearance at the 2025 World Robot Conference (WRC) at the critical moment of Unitree's IPO, except that Jensen Huang was replaced by Rev Lebaredian, the vice - president of NVIDIA's Omniverse and simulation technology.

This understanding stems from a profound business symbiosis. Jensen Huang needs Wang Xingxing. He needs Unitree's robots to run, jump, and do backflips on the global stage because every amazing appearance is the most vivid advertisement for his "physical AI" vision and creates real demand for his expensive chips and platforms.

If the story ended here, it would just be an ordinary story between a supplier and a customer. Jensen Huang's game is much more complicated. To understand his real intention, another "partner" of his must be introduced - Liang Wenfeng, the founder of DeepSeek.

Different Twins

If Wang Xingxing is the "preacher" in Jensen Huang's ideal, then Liang Wenfeng is the "ace card" that is both a friend and a foe in his hand.

The business of Unitree Technology founded by Wang Xingxing is a perfect complement to NVIDIA. The more successful Unitree is and the more robots it sells, the more it can prove the value of NVIDIA's platform.

It can be said that Wang Xingxing is a "model student" within the NVIDIA ecosystem. Even though NVIDIA has not participated in any round of financing of Unitree Technology, he is still regarded as "one of their own" by Jensen Huang.

However, DeepSeek founded by Liang Wenfeng is a completely different story.

He is in the same battlefield as NVIDIA's top customers such as OpenAI and Google, Silicon Valley tech giants. His existence is even a potential threat to Jensen Huang's direct business and once disrupted NVIDIA's core logic of the computing power narrative.

After all, Liang Wenfeng once caused NVIDIA's market value to plummet by hundreds of billions of dollars. He is no ordinary person.

This is exactly where Jensen Huang needs him. During Jensen Huang's second visit to China this year, there were rumors of a secret meeting between him and Liang Wenfeng.

This is Jensen Huang's top - level "open conspiracy": He needs a "challenger" from China to constantly put pressure on Silicon Valley giants like OpenAI with extreme cost - effectiveness. Jensen Huang eagerly hopes that DeepSeek can use the "restricted version" H20 chips to train large - scale models at a training cost 1/20 of the industry average and make OpenAI and others extremely anxious with an almost unreasonable approach. And this anxiety will directly translate into huge orders for NVIDIA's outrageously expensive chips (such as H100 and B200).

So, when the sale of the H20 chips was suspended due to the ban, when Liang Wenfeng's R2 model was once difficult to produce and the traffic on the official website dropped by 70%, Jensen Huang flew to Beijing under the scorching sun to announce the resumption of the H20 sales to China.

With OpenAI, Google, and other Silicon Valley giants all coming up with upgraded models, Jensen Huang needs Liang Wenfeng to continue the fight more than ever. He needs this "catfish" to continue to stir up the global computing power competition.

Just one day before the manuscript was submitted, the market confirmed the news that the R2 model would be postponed again. The rumor that it would be launched in August was refuted. Facing the indefinite postponement of the R2 model, Jensen Huang may be more anxious than Liang Wenfeng.

In this way, one is the builder of the ecosystem, and the other is the catalyst for competition, constantly driving NVIDIA's growth from both internal and external dimensions. Wang Xingxing and Liang Wenfeng, these two tech "twins" in China, jointly form Jensen Huang's balancing act in the Chinese market and even in the global game.

However, whether it is the favored "preacher" or the exploited "challenger," they are all walking on the same tightrope.

This tightrope is called geopolitical game.

The ban on the H20 chips was a painful experience for Liang Wenfeng and a constant warning for Wang Xingxing. No matter how perfect the business logic is and how close the cooperation relationship is, it may be vulnerable to a single order from Washington. The ban on the H20 chips once caused NVIDIA to record a $4.5 billion inventory impairment and lose $2.5 billion in potential sales.

When the cooperation deepens from hardware to platforms like the "world model" such as Cosmos, the risk has escalated from "choking the neck" to "extracting the soul." If the chip supply is cut off, alternative solutions can still be found. However, if access to the simulation platform and data generation tools on which the entire R & D depends is restricted, it will be like taking away the firewood from under the cauldron for enterprises deeply integrated into this ecosystem.

At the end of July, the National Internet Information Office summoned NVIDIA regarding the potential security risks of "tracking and positioning" and "remote shutdown" backdoors in the H20 computing power chips, only half a month after Jensen Huang announced the lifting of the H20 ban.

It can be seen that both ends of this tightrope are tightening.

For a robot that needs to enter factories and families and interact closely with the physical world, the security of its core AI platform and the ownership of data sovereignty will become an unavoidable question. This makes the cooperation between Wang Xingxing and Jensen Huang look more like a magnificent adventure.

Whether it is Unitree Technology's current IPO or the exploration of various cutting - edge technologies in the future, we are afraid that at the most critical moment, there will be a rumor: "NVIDIA has left a backdoor."

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This article is from the WeChat official account "Yuan Media Group," author: Keji's Ke. It is published by 36Kr with authorization.