With the humanoid robot business included in its consolidated financial statements, can Estun, the so-called "first share of industrial robots", stage a turnaround amid its current predicament?

At the critical stage where humanoid robots are moving from laboratories to large-scale mass production and their popularity is surging, ESTUN, known as the "first share of industrial robots", has taken a major step in the humanoid robot sector. 

On the evening of September 7, ESTUN released an announcement stating that it has completed the acquisition of 100% equity of Nanjing Estun Kuozhuo Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Estun Kuozhuo") through its wholly-owned subsidiary, and Estun Kuozhuo has been included in the company's consolidated statements.

The main business of Estun Kuozhuo covers the R&D, production and sales of collaborative robots, embodied intelligent robots and their core components. The completion of the acquisition of Estun Kuozhuo and its inclusion in the consolidated statements means that ESTUN's humanoid robot business has officially moved from "concept" to practical implementation.

01. A New Story Born from Internal Asset Restructuring

ESTUN spent about 500 million yuan to create a new growth story for itself.

The acquisition of Estun Kuozhuo by ESTUN was completed through its wholly-owned subsidiaries Nanjing Estun Robot Engineering Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Estun Robot") and Nanjing Dingtong Electromechanical Automation Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Dingtong Electromechanical"). The total transaction amount is 487 million yuan. After the transaction is completed, ESTUN will indirectly hold 100% equity of Estun Kuozhuo through its two wholly-owned subsidiaries and include it in the scope of the company's consolidated statements.

According to inquiries on relevant announcements by DoNews, the acquisition of Estun Kuozhuo by ESTUN is essentially an internal asset integration.

From the perspective of the development history of Estun Kuozhuo, it was established by Wu Kan through investment in July 2022. In November 2022, 100% equity of Estun Kuozhuo was transferred to Nanjing Pailest Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Pailest"), which is the controlling shareholder of ESTUN. 

ESTUN itself also increased its capital contribution to Estun Kuozhuo by 12.5 million yuan in September 2023, obtaining 20% of its equity. 

After a capital increase in November 2024, Pailest and ESTUN directly held 39.07% and 13.95% of the equity of Estun Kuozhuo respectively. 

Estun Kuozhuo is mainly engaged in the R&D, production and sales of collaborative robots, embodied intelligent robots and their core components. Its main products are collaborative robots with a load of 3-35kg, embodied intelligent robots and their core parts, and its downstream application fields mainly include automobiles, home appliances, 3C electronics, food logistics and other industries.

Figure: Main business of Estun Kuozhuo / ESTUN Announcement

Since its establishment in 2022, Estun Kuozhuo has completed the R&D of two generations of humanoid robots, 17 high-end collaborative robots, 4 composite mobile robots, and multiple robot workstations for welding, palletizing and other scenarios within 3 years. In the field of industry-university-research cooperation, Estun Kuozhuo has deeply participated in the "Open Bidding for Unveiling the Leader" project of humanoid robots of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and is one of the first batch of participating units of national standard projects for humanoid robots. 

In this acquisition, 22 former direct or indirect shareholders of Estun Kuozhuo, including Pailest, have signed a performance commitment agreement. They jointly promise that from May to December 2026, 2027, 2028 and 2029, the operating revenue of Estun Kuozhuo will be no less than 70 million yuan, 120 million yuan, 180 million yuan and 250 million yuan respectively, and the cumulative operating revenue realized within the performance commitment period will be no less than 620 million yuan.

In addition, they also made commitments on the performance of Estun Kuozhuo's specific business: the audited net profit attributable to shareholders of the parent company after deducting non-recurring gains and losses realized by Estun Kuozhuo's collaborative business segment from May to December 2026, 2027, 2028 and 2029 will be no less than 5 million yuan, 15 million yuan, 20 million yuan and 26 million yuan respectively, and the cumulative net profit realized within the performance commitment period will be no less than 66 million yuan. 

However, like many robotics companies, Estun Kuozhuo is not profitable at present and is still in the "cash-burning" stage. The announcement shows that the operating revenue of Estun Kuozhuo in 2024, 2025 and January-April 2026 was 10.9879 million yuan, 50.1679 million yuan and 14.8674 million yuan respectively; the net profit was -36.1024 million yuan, -52.9985 million yuan and -12.6582 million yuan respectively; its assets are in a state of continuous decline, with net assets of 108 million yuan, 55.6976 million yuan and 48.6516 million yuan respectively. 

It is no easy task for Estun Kuozhuo to fulfill its performance commitments.

02. Dividends Come First

Although from the perspective of performance commitments, ESTUN has clearly focused on Estun Kuozhuo's collaborative robot business, what the capital market values most is Estun Kuozhuo's embodied intelligent business, that is, the humanoid robot concept. 

Since 2025, driven by multiple factors including policy incentives, industrial technology breakthroughs and mass production expectations, the humanoid robot track has become a hot target for capital. Not only are investment and financing events in the primary market booming, but related companies in the secondary market have also experienced several rounds of market rallies driven by speculative sentiment. 

In the boom of humanoid robot speculation, ESTUN has reaped dividends and become the vane of sector sentiment, known as the "sentiment leader of humanoid robots" in the market. 

Starting from April 29, 2026, ESTUN's stock price has been rising continuously. After announcing the plan to acquire 100% equity of Estun Kuozhuo on July 3, ESTUN's stock price quickly reached its highest point of 49 yuan per share on July 7. According to data from Founder Securities, the stock price of ESTUN rose by as much as 140.9% in the range from April 29 to July 7. 

Regarding the rise of ESTUN's stock price, a securities analyst told DoNews that ESTUN's robot concept is relatively pure, there are not many pure robot complete machine manufacturers in the A-share market, and ESTUN is the leading domestic industrial robot manufacturer with the highest shipment volume, with a high self-development rate of core components. Even if the speculation boom fades, its industry status and future development space are expected to support its valuation. In terms of humanoid robot business, ESTUN has made solid progress in industrial layout, with more practical business implementation, rather than just staying at the level of leveraging concepts.

03. Pressure and Expectations 

However, the capital dividends that ESTUN has obtained from humanoid robots are receding. 

The rise in the stock price of the humanoid robot sector was driven by the IPO of Unitree Robotics and the mass production expectation of Tesla's humanoid robot Optimus V3. 

But now, the mass production progress of Tesla's humanoid robot Optimus V3 is slow. The remarks of Elon Musk, founder of Tesla, further reveal the huge difficulty in promoting mass production. He once said bluntly, "The mass production of humanoid robots is the most difficult manufacturing ramp-up in Tesla's history. Almost all components of humanoid robots are brand new, there is no ready-made supply chain, and a large number of links can only be completed within the company." "For electric vehicles, Tesla can purchase specific components such as wheels, side mirrors and windshields from existing suppliers. But for Optimus, there is no supply chain." 

The successful listing of Unitree Robotics, the "regular army" of humanoid robots, on the Sci-Tech Innovation Board has turned the realization of expectations for the humanoid robot sector into negative news. 

On August 19, Unitree Robotics was officially listed and traded on the Sci-Tech Innovation Board of the Shanghai Stock Exchange, making the A-share market welcome the "first share of humanoid robots". On the first day of listing, Unitree Robotics sparked a capital carnival, with an opening price of 1100 yuan per share, a surge of 629.44% compared with the issue price of 150.80 yuan per share, and the closing price of 845 yuan per share on the same day, an increase of 460.34%. 

At the same time, the listing of Unitree Robotics almost "siphoned off" the liquidity of the A-share robot sector. On August 19, most stocks in the robot sector hit the limit down, and ESTUN was one of them, with a decline of more than 9% on August 20.

At present, the humanoid robot sector is under obvious pressure, and the stock prices of related stocks are generally in a downward state. As of the close of trading on September 11, the stock price of Unitree Robotics, as the leader, has fallen to 477.12 yuan per share, which has been "cut in half" from its highest point, while ESTUN's stock price has fallen to less than 29 yuan per share after sideways consolidation.

While losing the impetus from external forces, inside ESTUN, as the acquisition expectation is fulfilled, the market is paying more attention to the performance realization of humanoid robots. 

ESTUN's announcement did not disclose the revenue of Estun Kuozhuo's humanoid robot business. The author contacted ESTUN's securities department as an investor, and the relevant staff said that the proportion of Estun Kuozhuo's humanoid robot business is relatively small, and they are not aware of its specific revenue situation. 

As for ESTUN's future plans for the humanoid robot business, the staff said that in terms of humanoid robots, the business will continue to be carried out through Estun Kuozhuo, hoping that humanoid robots and industrial robots can achieve coordinated development in the future. "In many industrial scenarios, humanoid robots can replace humans. Industrial robots are on the production line, and they inherently need to cooperate with each other."

At present, industrial manufacturing scenarios are regarded as the most realistic and most promising large-scale implementation direction for humanoid robots. This direction not only has rigid demand and clear scenarios, but also achieves the fastest commercial verification. 

ESTUN itself has accumulated a lot of resources in the field of industrial manufacturing. At present, ESTUN's business is divided into two core business modules: automation core components and motion control systems, industrial robots and intelligent manufacturing systems, with service coverage of new energy, hardware, 3C electronics, automotive industry, packaging logistics, building materials and furniture, metal processing, engineering machinery, welding and other segmented industries. 

According to data from MIR DATABANK, ESTUN once again ranked first in the shipment volume of all brands in China's industrial robot market in the first half of 2026, maintaining its leading position for six consecutive quarters, and ranking first in the shipment volume of domestic brands for eight consecutive years. 

In terms of performance, ESTUN has turned losses into profits. In the first half of 2026, ESTUN achieved operating revenue of 2.578 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 1.14%; the net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies was 161 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 2314.23%. Although part of the profit came from one-time equity income, the net profit attributable to the parent company after deducting non-recurring gains and losses was 70.1717 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 498.64%. In addition, the net cash flow from operating activities of ESTUN was 44.5272 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 137.27%; the overall gross profit margin was 31.81%, a year-on-year increase of 4.17 percentage points. These data indicate that ESTUN's main business is showing a substantial positive development trend. 

However, since Estun Kuozhuo is still in a loss-making state and the development of humanoid robots requires a lot of capital support, including it in the company's consolidated statements may have a negative impact on ESTUN's performance in the short term. 

Conclusion 

At present, ESTUN ranks first in the shipment volume of industrial robots in China's industrial robot market, but its revenue growth rate is relatively small, it has just turned losses into profits, its performance foundation is not solid, and its development is still in a difficult situation. At present, the humanoid robot industry as a whole is still in the stage of "cash-burning iteration and difficulty in making profits", and its commercialization prospect is still unclear. Whether the acquisition of Estun Kuozhuo can help ESTUN reverse its difficult situation remains to be seen.

This article is from the WeChat official account "DoNews" (ID: ilovedonews), author: Xu Yun, authorized for release by 36Kr.