Humanoid robots' 'ChatGPT moment' could be 10 years away, Unitree founder says
XI'AN, CHINA - JULY 22: Wang Xingxing, founder of Unitree Robotics, speaks at the opening ceremony of the 2026 World Internet Conference Digital Silk Road Development Forum on July 22, 2026 in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province of China.
Key takeaways
- Unitree Robotics, one of China’s leading humanoid‑robot makers, has taken center stage in the latest wave of robotic breakthroughs.
- In mid‑August the company unveiled a new “Superman” humanoid that can leap two metres vertically and sprint at 12.66 metres per second—speeds that exceed the world‑record high‑jump and sprint performances of elite athletes such as Usain Bolt.
- The robot was demonstrated at the 2026 World Robot Conference in Beijing, where its back‑flipping and kung‑fu moves also drew headlines.
- On the same week Unitree completed a blockbuster IPO on Shanghai’s STAR market, with its shares soaring more than 460 % above the offer price and briefly spiking as much as 629 %, underscoring intense investor enthusiasm for Chinese embodied‑AI.
- Despite the rapid hardware advances, Unitree’s founder Wang Xingxing cautioned that a “ChatGPT moment” for humanoid robots—when they can reliably generalise across tasks and execute precise movements through conversational AI—may still be up to ten years away.
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XI'AN, CHINA - JULY 22: Wang Xingxing, founder of Unitree Robotics, speaks at the opening ceremony of the 2026 World Internet Conference Digital Silk Road Development Forum on July 22, 2026 in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province of China.
Vcg | Visual China Group | Getty Images
Humanoid robots may be a decade away from their "ChatGPT moment," Unitree Robotics founder Wang Xingxing has said, following his company's soaring market debut.
Unitree debuted in Shanghai on Wednesday and soared to close 460% above its 150.80 yuan offer price, more than five times the price at which the company priced its $905 million initial public offering, amid huge interest in humanoid robotics as an emerging sector. Join IC
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Key Points
Unitree founder Wang Xingxing says it could take up to 10 years for humanoid robots to have their "ChatGPT" breakthrough. He said robots still struggle to generalize across unfamiliar tasks and execute precise movements. His warning follows the company's Shanghai debut on Wednesday, when its stock closed 460% above its IPO price. Morgan Stanley forecasts China's humanoid shipments to reach 50,000 this year, up from 12,000 in 2025.
"Unitree's IPO puts the commercial potential of China's robotics boom in the spotlight," said Ying Zhang, from the Economist Intelligence Unit. The next test for embodied AI, Zhang said, is whether technological advances translate into productivity gains and economic returns that justify large-scale deployment.
Nomura initiated coverage of Unitree on Wednesday, with a buy rating and a 370-yuan price target, citing its hardware cost moat and rapid product iteration. Outsourced components account for less than one-fifth of its total cost, helping expand the gross margin to 60% in 2025, from 44% in 2022, Nomura estimates.
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