Gross Margin Nearly 60%! Unitree Robotics IPO Question: How to Defend the Moat Before the "Brain" Matures

Source: Huaxia Times

After much anticipation, it finally emerged. On the evening of March 20, the Shanghai Stock Exchange officially disclosed the listing application of Yushu Technology. This long-awaited robotics company has taken a crucial step toward the STAR Market. Looking at the prospectus, Yushu Technology’s financial data is quite impressive: although not large in scale, it has maintained profitability for two consecutive years. Industry insiders believe this is largely due to the company moving faster than other startups by nearly a year, giving it a “time advantage” in its success.

However, behind the impressive data, the real test has just begun. The robotics industry is still in its early stages of commercialization, and while Yushu Technology has already become a leader in the industry, it faces an unavoidable challenge: with the “brain” of the robot significantly lagging behind the “body” and “small brain,” how can it sustain high growth? Recently, founder Wang Xingxing stated that it will take another two to three years for the embodied intelligence industry to reach the true “GPT moment.”

Revenue and profit surge together

Yushu Technology previously announced that it expected to submit filing documents to the securities exchange in Q4 last year, but this was delayed by more than half a year. This may be related to the pre-review mechanism. Along with the disclosure of the prospectus, the SSE also published two “pre-review” documents, indicating that Yushu Technology is the second company after Changxin Technology to have its IPO pre-review mechanism implemented on the STAR Market.

On June 18, 2025, the China Securities Regulatory Commission issued the “Opinions on Enhancing the Inclusiveness and Adaptability of the Science and Technology Innovation Board’s Growth Layer,” introducing the “1+6” reform measures, including a pilot pre-review mechanism for high-quality tech companies’ IPOs. On July 13 of the same year, the SSE issued the “Guidelines for the Application of the Listing Review Rules—Pre-Review,” which took effect immediately. Through pre-review, the SSE aims to improve the quality of IPO application documents and promote review efficiency.

Consistent with earlier reports, Yushu Technology has already achieved profitability for two consecutive years, not disappointing investors.

The prospectus shows that from 2022 to 2025, net profits attributable to the parent company were -22.1 million yuan, -11.1 million yuan, 94.5 million yuan, and 288 million yuan, respectively; after deducting non-recurring gains and losses, the net profits were -8.07 million yuan, -18.02 million yuan, 77.5 million yuan, and 600 million yuan. The significant differences between net profit attributable to the parent and non-recurring profit in 2022 and 2025 are explained by the recognition of share-based payment expenses.

It is evident that Yushu Technology’s profits saw a marked increase in 2024 and 2025, mainly driven by overall revenue growth. From 2022 to 2025, the company’s revenue was 123 million yuan, 160 million yuan, 392 million yuan, and 1.708 billion yuan. This also led to a continuous increase in gross profit margin, which was 44.94%, 44.75%, and 56.98% in 2022, 2023, and 2024, respectively—higher than listed competitors Ubiquity and Yuejiang. In the first nine months of 2025, the gross margin reached 59.83%.

Currently, Yushu Technology’s main income comes from quadruped robots and humanoid robots, with robot components and other sources accounting for a smaller share. In 2022, 2023, 2024, and the first nine months of 2025, the company sold over 30,000 quadruped robots in total. In 2025, the shipment of humanoid robots exceeded 5,500 units (excluding wheeled dual-arm robots), ranking first globally. Quadruped robots are widely used in scientific research, industrial inspection, emergency rescue, and intelligent services, while humanoid robots are used in scientific research, application development, education, cultural performances, and smart services.

This key turning point coincides with Yushu robots appearing on the Spring Festival Gala. The publicity power of the event is evident, and this “going viral” effect has prompted many robotics companies to compete for a spot on this year’s Spring Festival Gala stage.

Zhang Yi, CEO and chief analyst at iiMedia Research, told Huaxia Times that if Yushu Technology successfully lists, in the short term, driven by high growth in 2025, the scarcity of the track, a valuation exceeding 100 billion yuan after the last funding round, and the strong sentiment for hard technology on the STAR Market, the stock could see a significant premium within six months of listing. “However, the industry is still in the early stages of commercialization, the novelty will fade quickly, and competition barriers will continue to rise. Mid-term, valuations will revert to performance and commercialization results. Currently, Yushu is only about a year ahead of peers, but this gap is rapidly closing, and it is expected to shrink to four months within two years. Overall, a decline in market value over the next two to three years is highly likely. The key advantage for Yushu is its time gap—its ability to leap from hardware to platform-based company is crucial.”

“Brain” shortcomings need addressing

Last year’s “viral” success and public curiosity about robots have been catalysts for Yushu Technology’s sales surge, especially for humanoid robots.

In previous years, quadruped robots contributed the most revenue for Yushu Technology. Starting last year, revenue from humanoid robots surpassed that from quadruped robots. In the first three quarters of 2025, revenue from humanoid robots was 595 million yuan, accounting for 51.53% of total revenue; revenue from quadruped robots was 488 million yuan, or 42.25%. In 2023 and 2024, the revenue shares were 1.88% and 75.78%, and 27.6% and 59.53%, respectively.

However, humanoid robots are still in the early development stage. The prospectus emphasizes the company’s advantages in robot motion control—namely, the “body” and “small brain”—such as winning 11 medals at the first World Humanoid Robot Sports Games, demonstrating excellent performance and reliability in high-dynamic tasks like running and obstacle courses.

But in terms of “brain” capabilities, Yushu Technology has yet to achieve concrete results, which is its most significant current shortcoming. Wang Xingxing recently said that the true “GPT moment” for embodied intelligence is still a few years away. “Some industry folks are optimistic and think it can happen in 18 months, but I’m a bit more cautious and believe it will take at least two to three years. Still, the process will be very fast.”

Therefore, a major use of funds in this IPO plan is for the development of intelligent robot models. According to the prospectus, Yushu Technology plans to issue no less than 40.45 million new shares, raising 4.202 billion yuan, with a total planned investment of 2.022 billion yuan in the intelligent robot model R&D project.

Notably, in the first three quarters of 2025, revenue reached 1.167 billion yuan, while R&D expenses were only 90.21 million yuan, accounting for just 7.73% of operating income. For a tech company, this ratio is quite low. Yushu Technology explained that the rapid revenue growth far exceeds the reasonable growth rate of R&D expenses, and scale effects have led to a relative decrease in R&D expense ratio. Even in 2024, R&D expenses accounted for only 17.84%, lower than Ubiquity’s 36.63% and Yuejiang’s 19.21%.

Of course, Yushu Technology has made some progress in “brain” development. The company states that it has integrated relatively mature large language models into products like G1. However, since embodied large model technology is still in R&D and testing stages globally, it has not yet scaled its self-developed general embodied large models for robot products. It has conducted R&D testing and deployment in pilot scenarios at its own factories, with corresponding technical reserves.

While waiting for the “brain” to mature, how will Yushu Technology maintain high sales and performance growth amid the public’s waning curiosity? The Huaxia Times reporter contacted Yushu Technology for comment but has not received a reply as of press time.

“Before the ‘brain’ matures, Yushu Technology relies on the advantages of ‘small brain’ (motion control) and extreme cost reduction to sustain growth. By full-stack self-research, it lowers the average price of humanoid robots to trigger ‘price cuts’ for ‘sales explosion,’ while expanding into diverse scenarios like power inspection, commercial performances, and overseas markets to ensure continuous revenue,” said Zhang Xiaorong, director of the Deep Tech Research Institute.