If you ask a science fiction reader what would come after a powerful AI system, you’re likely to hear “humanoid robots” as the answer. And now it seems China’s stock market is expecting the same after DeepSeek boosted “AI concept” stock in the days after the Chinese New Year. It was reported that the robotics ETFs in A-shares in China grew between 1% to 6% since 17 February. Most of these are because of two high-profile appearances made by one company: Unitree Robotics (宇树科技).
On 29 February, the Chinese New Year’s (CNY) Eve, humanoid robots from Unitree performed at the CNY gala. Dressed in the Northeast floral pattern, or “dongbei dahua” (东北大花), dozens of Unitree G1 robots performed a “yangge” (秧歌) dance (à la Jensen Huang), stunning viewers and making Unitree a household name.
Unitree’s founder and CEO Xingxing Wang (b. 1990) also became a celebrity after the gala show and more importantly, attended the meeting between private sector business leaders and government officials including Chinese President Xi Jinping. Wang quickly elevated the authoritative status of humanoid robots and his prediction of reaching a “new magnitude” this year pushed many robotics-related stocks to new heights, just like DeepSeek did to AI-related stocks.
Meanwhile, the G1 robot that performed at the gala, which can be ordered for 99,000 RMB (13,591.90 USD) with a 45-day lead time, quickly sold out and was delisted from e-commerce platforms such as JD.com due to the demand. Rental and resale with prohibitive prices quickly took over the market. Whether the company, founded in 2016, will be as disruptive to the robotics industry as DeepSeek remains to be seen.
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