What happened
Unitree Technology listed on the STAR Market, becoming the first publicly traded humanoid robot company in A-shares.
Boston Dynamics, founded in 1992, has had three major owners (Google, SoftBank, Hyundai) and still struggles to commercialize at scale.
Unitree's humanoid robot prices dropped from nearly 600,000 yuan in 2023 to tens of thousands of yuan in 2025, with sales rising from a few units to thousands.
Why it matters
The article argues that the next competitive frontier in robotics is not just hardware but the 'brain'—AI software, chips, and dexterity—which could define US-China competition.
China's strength in supply chains and manufacturing enables cost reduction and mass production, while the US leads in AI models and chips, potentially creating a race to build a positive loop of brain-body-scenario-data-retraining.
Key facts
Unitree's average humanoid robot price fell from about 600,000 yuan in 2023 to several hundred thousand yuan in 2024, and to over 100,000 yuan in 2025, with shipments reaching thousands.
Boston Dynamics was founded in 1992 and has been owned by Google, SoftBank, and Hyundai.
The article suggests that China's mature supply chains in consumer electronics, EVs, motors, sensors, and precision manufacturing are benefiting robot production.
What to watch next
Whether Chinese robot companies can continue to reduce costs and scale production, and whether they can develop advanced AI capabilities.
How US companies like Tesla, Google DeepMind, and NVIDIA leverage their AI strengths to create robot 'brains' and whether they can integrate with hardware.
The potential for a new competitive dynamic where the US focuses on AI and China on affordable hardware, with the ultimate winner being the one that achieves a full feedback loop.