Unitree Prices $9 Billion IPO as DeepSeek Joins Humanoid-AI Push
Unitree priced its Shanghai IPO at 150.8 yuan per share, valuing the humanoid-robotics company at about $9.04 billion, while DeepSeek invested roughly $20.8 million and agreed to collaborate on AI models for humanoid machines.
Why it matters: The partnership connects AI-model development with robotics hardware and physical-world data, two of the core inputs required for commercially useful humanoid systems.
Chinese robotics company Unitree has priced an initial public offering that values the company at approximately $9 billion while bringing AI developer DeepSeek into its effort to build more capable humanoid machines.
Unitree plans to sell 40.45 million new shares on Shanghai’s STAR Market at 150.8 yuan each, raising approximately 6.1 billion yuan. The transaction would make Unitree China’s first mainland-listed manufacturer focused on humanoid robots.
DeepSeek is participating as a strategic investor, committing about $20.8 million through the IPO placement. The companies agreed to combine DeepSeek’s AI-model expertise with Unitree’s work in robotics, motion control and embodied intelligence.
The partnership targets one of humanoid robotics’ hardest problems: enabling machines to understand unfamiliar physical environments and reliably convert instructions into actions. That makes the deal significant beyond the IPO itself because physical-world data and embodied reasoning are becoming central constraints in the next phase of AI development.