Chinese Robotics Firms Line Up for IPOs: UBTECH and 46 Others Queue in Hong Kong
Claire Weston
At least 46 robotics companies are queuing for Hong Kong IPOs, making up over 10% of all listing applications; the wave will channel capital into R&D, but a 40× P/E set against a 13% year-to-date sector pullback signals the market is repricing the gap between narrative and fundamentals.
How big is this robotics IPO wave?
Unitree Robotics won Shanghai Stock Exchange listing approval on Monday — an early test case for the broader wave.
In Hong Kong, at least 46 robotics-related companies have filed listing applications, accounting for over 10% of the total pipeline; LeggedRobot (乐聚) and DeepRobotics (云深处) are among them.
This means → the robotics sector has shifted from private-market storytelling to public-market fundraising, at a density rarely seen in Hong Kong's listing history.
Where will the money go?
Morgan Stanley's head of China industrials research, Shawn Zhong (钟晟), noted that most Chinese humanoid-robot IPO proceeds will fund R&D, especially robot foundation models.
In plain terms = these companies are still burning cash on technology; listing is not about cashing in profits — it is about raising more capital to keep building.
Zhong sees the IPO wave "igniting market interest in humanoid robots for the second half of 2026" — in other words, Morgan Stanley treats this round of listings as a catalyst, not a finish line.
Why "the decade of China"?
Barclays analyst Zornitsa Todorova and colleagues wrote: "This is the decade of robotics — and it belongs to China."
The numbers: in 2025, China accounts for 50% of global industrial-robot output and 85% of humanoid-robot output.
Barclays projects that, backed by coordinated industrial policy and supply-chain control, humanoid robots could reach roughly 3.8% of China's labor capacity by 2035.
This reflects not a sudden startup boom but a decade of state-guided strategic investment reaching critical industrial mass.
At 40× earnings, what are investors buying?
The robotics sector trades at roughly 40× forward earnings, versus about 14× for the CSI 300 — a gap of nearly 3×.
The humanoid-robot stock index has fallen about 13% this year, after rising 47% in 2025.
This means → money that chased the rally last year is now under pressure; the sector is moving from a blanket bid to stock-by-stock differentiation.
Where do the bulls and bears disagree?
Shen Meng (沈萌), director at Beijing-based Chanson & Co., is blunt: investors trading at such high valuations are "usually not driven by long-term fundamentals but are chasing short-term price gains."
On the other side, Chinese tech IPOs have performed strongly this year — Zhipu AI (智谱) and MiniMax listed in January, surged, and were both added to the Hang Seng Tech Index last month.
Zhou Nan (周楠), founder and CIO of Shenzhen Longhui Fund Management, argues that robotics firms offer investors a path into a frontier industry's rapid expansion: "As AI continues to advance, the robotics sector has long-term substantive growth potential."
Robotics at 40× — bubble or early-entry ticket?
BULL
Policy backstop
China holds 85% of global humanoid-robot output; state-level strategy keeps investing.
IPO validates the track
Tech IPOs are thousands of times oversubscribed; the market will pay for growth.
AI-driven inflection
Proceeds flow into R&D and models; a production milestone may land in late 2026.
BEAR
Hollow fundamentals
Most firms are still cash-burning; 40× PE has little earnings support.
Sector already pulling back
Index down 13% YTD; last year's 47% rally is being digested.
Speculation-driven
Shen Meng says traders chase short-term spreads, not long-term conviction.
In plain terms = nobody disputes the industry direction, but whether these companies are worth today's price is a question the market has not settled.
Content is for reference only, not financial advice.