Unitree earns 600 million yuan a year, while Ubtech loses 700 million yuan a year: On the same robotics track, the financial records are completely different.
On March 20, 2026, the Science and Technology Innovation Board of the Shanghai Stock Exchange accepted a special prospectus.
Unitree Technology - the robot company that performed yangko dance on the Spring Festival Gala - officially submitted an application to the A-share market.
There are several figures in this prospectus that should not be ignored: In 2025, the revenue was 1.708 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 335%; the net profit after deducting non-recurring gains and losses was 600 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 674%; the gross profit margin of the main business was 60.27%.
Compare these figures with another company - in 2025, it had a revenue of 2 billion yuan and a loss of 790 million yuan.
The name of this company is Ubtech, known as the "first stock of humanoid robots", which was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange at the end of 2023.
Sleeping in the Same Bed, Two Different Postures
Humanoid robots have been the hottest trend globally in the past two years.
But in the same field, two types of companies are having completely different experiences -
One is Unitree - with high-speed revenue growth, turning losses into profits, and a gross profit margin comparable to that of luxury goods.
The other is Ubtech, Dobot, Fourier Intelligence, and Zhipu Robotics - all incurring losses and burning money for the future.
Why?
This is not a victory of one company over another, but two different business logics leading to two different results in the same field.
▸ Unitree Technology in 2025: Revenue of 1.708 billion (+335%), net profit after deducting non-recurring gains and losses of 600 million (+674%), gross profit margin of 60.27% (Science and Technology Innovation Board prospectus)
▸ Ubtech's 2024 annual report: Revenue of 1.3 billion, loss of 1.12 billion, gross profit margin of about 30% (disclosed by the Hong Kong Stock Exchange)
▸ Estimated figures for Ubtech in 2025: Revenue of about 2 billion, loss of about 790 million (comprehensive disclosure by Huxiu)
▸ Dobot in 2024: Revenue of 374 million, loss of 84 million, gross profit margin of 46.56%
▸ Fourier Intelligence/Zhipu Robotics: Still in the pre-listing financing stage, financial information not publicly disclosed
On the same trend, one company has a 60% gross profit margin while the other is still losing money.
The Secret of Unitree: Who to Sell to, How Much to Sell, and How to Sell
To understand why Unitree can make money, three questions need to be answered.
First: Who does it sell to?
Opening Unitree's prospectus, you will find a counterintuitive fact - more than 90% of the revenue from humanoid robots is sold to scientific research institutions, universities, and corporate customers.
The largest customer is JD Group, accounting for 3.54% of sales; the third-largest is Beijing Chaoyuan Times Technology, accounting for 1.55% of sales.
In other words, Unitree has not yet entered the manufacturing workshops on a large scale, nor has it entered households.
What it sells is not a "robot", but a "hardware platform that can run, jump, and do flips" - allowing university professors to conduct research, technology companies to conduct secondary development, and research institutes to train algorithms.
These customers are not sensitive to price, have low requirements for durability, and are not picky about after-sales costs.
Second: How much does it sell for?
The average selling price of Unitree's humanoid robots has followed an inverse curve -
In 2023, it was 593,400 yuan per unit;
In 2024, it was 260,700 yuan per unit;
In the first three quarters of 2025, it was 167,600 yuan per unit.
In two years, the unit price dropped to less than one-third of the original.
But the gross profit margin increased from 44.18% in 2022 to 60.27% in 2025.
The reason lies in the supply chain - Unitree has self-developed core components such as motors and reducers, and the hardware cost is controlled at 60,000 to 70,000 yuan per unit. And due to the popularity from the Spring Festival Gala, the brand premium has also increased.
Third: How does it sell?
In 2025, Unitree's humanoid robot shipments exceeded 5,500 units - ranking first in the world.
The sales expense ratio dropped from 21% in 2022 to 6.51% in the first three quarters of 2025.
That is to say, for each additional robot sold, the customer acquisition cost becomes thinner.
This is a typical scale effect of technology products - not relying on advertising to increase market share, but achieving natural penetration through overnight popularity on the Spring Festival Gala and word-of-mouth spread.
The Dilemma of Ubtech: Different Customers, Different Financial Statements
The reason why Unitree's financial statements look good and Ubtech's are heavy lies in the difference starting from the customer side.
Ubtech's Main Focus: Manufacturing Implementation
Ubtech has placed its main battlefield in manufacturing workshops.
In the past year, Ubtech has carried out collaborative training of humanoid robots in automobile manufacturers such as BYD, Geely, Mercedes-Benz, Audi, ZEEKR, and Foxconn - in scenarios such as assembly, inspection, and handling.
The characteristics of this market are - extremely high entry barriers, extremely price-sensitive, and extremely high requirements for durability.
A humanoid robot entering an automobile factory must be able to "operate continuously for 8 hours without downtime, have a grasping accuracy in the millimeter range, and seamlessly cooperate with the existing production line".
To meet these standards, the R & D department must burn money - Ubtech's R & D investment in 2024 was 478 million yuan, seven times that of Unitree in the same year.
Ubtech's Contradiction: Lagging Mass Production vs. R & D Spending
Ubtech delivered less than 500 Walker S series humanoid robots in 2024.
Behind these 500 units are 478 million yuan in R & D investment, a net loss of 1.1 billion, and a 30% gross profit margin.
If it weren't for the financing channel opened by the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, this business model would be difficult to sustain for more than two years.
In essence, Ubtech has chosen a more difficult and longer path - tackling the tough problems in industrial scenarios.
If this path is successful, the ceiling is extremely high - the annual labor costs of trillions of dollars in the global manufacturing industry are all potential markets.
But this path takes time.
The "Four-Dimensional Coordinates" of Five Companies
Put the five leading domestic humanoid robot companies in the same coordinate system -
Dimension One: Commercialization Stage
Unitree has achieved large-scale profitability.
Ubtech is in the stage of large-scale investment.
Dobot, which started with collaborative robots, still has a low proportion of humanoid robot business.
Fourier Intelligence and Zhipu Robotics are still in the small-batch verification stage.
Dimension Two: Main Customers
Unitree - Scientific research and education + Commercial consumption (driven by C - end popularity from the Spring Festival Gala)
Ubtech - Manufacturing workshops (automobile manufacturers such as BYD, ZEEKR, and Audi)
Dobot - Factory collaboration (mainly industrial arms)
Fourier Intelligence - Rehabilitation medicine, scientific research
Zhipu Robotics - Industrial scenarios, special operations
Dimension Three: Technology Focus
Unitree - Strong in hardware (motors, reducers, motion control), relatively restrained in investment in brain models
Ubtech - Invests in both software and hardware full - stack, especially deeper in AI applications in industrial implementation scenarios
Zhipu Robotics - Strong in integrating large models and embodied intelligence
Dimension Four: Valuation Logic
Unitree - Valued at about 42 billion yuan before IPO (corresponding to a PE of about 70 times the net profit after deducting non - recurring gains and losses in 2025), profit - driven
Ubtech - Market value of about HK$56 billion on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, story - driven + option value
Zhipu Robotics - Entered the A - share market indirectly through the acquisition of Shangwei New Materials. According to market information, the valuation is over 15 billion yuan
Fourier Intelligence, Dobot - Valuations are in the tens of billions and billions respectively
▸ Unitree's pre - IPO valuation: about 42 billion yuan (plans to issue 10% of shares to raise 4.2 billion yuan)
▸ Ubtech's market value on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange: about HK$56 billion (April 2026)
▸ Zhipu Robotics: Entered the A - share market indirectly through Shangwei New Materials (the stock price once increased by 330% in 2025)
▸ Comparison of R & D investment: Unitree's 90 million in the first three quarters of 2025 vs. Ubtech's 478 million in 2024
▸ There are at least 6 domestic humanoid robot unicorns with valuations over 10 billion yuan (early 2026)
Whose Path Is More Sustainable
In the short term, Unitree is the winner - turning losses into profits, with a 60% gross profit margin, and ranking first in global shipments.
But there are three key risks on this path, all written in the prospectus -
First - Uncertainty of customer demand. Unitree admitted in the prospectus that the company does not fully understand the specific usage scenarios of customers, and its current advantage mainly relies on cost - effectiveness rather than irreplaceability.
Second - The revenue in the third quarter of 2025 decreased by 26% quarter - on - quarter. This is a normal decline after the popularity effect of the Spring Festival Gala fades, and it also shows that the demand side has not yet formed a stable self - growth cycle.
Third - Insufficient investment in brain models. The real long - term value of humanoid robots lies in the "brain" - embodied intelligence large models, world models, and VLA models. Unitree's current R & D intensity is significantly lower than that of companies such as Ubtech and Zhipu Robotics.
Making the hardware perfect is only a semi - finished product, and the brain is the other half.
In the long term, companies like Ubtech that "burn money to attack industrial scenarios" may have a chance to access a truly huge market if they can survive the cash - flow pressure.
But the phrase "can survive" is the biggest suspense for such companies.
The Second Robot Bubble or the Golden Age
As of early 2026, there were more than 140 domestic humanoid robot - related enterprises, and at least 6 unicorns with valuations over 10 billion yuan.
This density makes many people think of the optical module sector in 2023 - before weeding out the false and retaining the true, every company on the trend was soaring.
But there is a fundamental difference between robots and optical modules -
The demand for optical modules comes from a definite customer (cloud providers) + a definite scenario (AI training).
The demand for robots can be divided into at least three scenarios - scientific research, industry, and household - and the commercialization rhythm of each scenario is completely different.
This means that not all robot companies will win, nor will all scenarios lose.
Unitree is in the lead, but the one that runs the farthest may not be the first to start.
The 600 million yuan that Unitree earned comes from the scientific research market and the popularity from the Spring Festival Gala.
The 700 million yuan that Ubtech lost is the tuition fee for industrial scenarios and brain R & D.
Looking back ten years later, we may find -
This 600 million yuan allows Unitree to get the ticket to go public.
That 700 million yuan may allow Ubtech to get another ticket - the one to truly enter factories and replace some human labor.
The two tickets lead to the same destination, but the prices are different.
Information Sources
1. Unitree Technology: Prospectus for IPO on the Science and Technology Innovation Board (accepted on March 20, 2026)
2. Caijing.com: Unitree Technology's IPO Application Accepted - Net Profit of 600 million in 2025 (March 20, 2026)
3. Huxiu: Unitree Technology Takes the Crown from Ubtech (April 22, 2026)
4. Ruicaijing: Unitree Technology's IPO - Wang Xingxing Is Making Too Much Money (March 22, 2026)
5. Titanium Media: 10 Things You Should Know About Unitree's Listing (March 21, 2026)
6. Titanium Media: Unitree Technology's IPO Finally Comes, Raising 4.2 Billion (March 21, 2026)
7. Phoenix Finance: In - depth Annual Interpretation of Unitree Technology's Listing (April 2026)
8. Ubtech's Hong Kong Stock Exchange announcements and annual report data (2023 - 2025)