Unitree IPO oversubscribed 8,000 times as China robot boom draws retail investors

Trading of shares in the Chinese humanoid robot manufacturer Unitree is expected to start in Shanghai next week, with the IPO valuing the company at $8.9 billion. During the subscription phase, demand from retail investors was 8,000 times greater than the number of shares available. Reuters explains that this imbalance highlights retail investors' desire to take part in the potential boom of China's robotics industry, where local suppliers already control 97% of the global humanoid robot market and Unitree is one of the leaders, though not the absolute one. Institutional investors will also participate in the IPO, leaving a limited number of shares for retail investors, whose chances of buying shares are lower than in most IPOs on the Chinese stock market this year. Experts expect the stock price to multiply after the market debut next week, relative to the offering price of $22.36 per share. This event is likely to trigger a revaluation of assets of other robot manufacturers that have gone public or plan to do so, while some investors anticipate a possible correction in share prices in this segment. In the US, a ban on imports of Chinese-made robots has been proposed, which would negatively affect the stock prices of Chinese manufacturers.