Ubtech Robotics Bets on Proprietary Chips as Humanoid Competition Intensifies

Ubtech forms 100M yuan joint venture to develop edge chips, cutting cloud dependency. Revenue surged 53% in FY2025 as humanoid shipments soared. Competition heats up as Unitree nears IPO.

Ubtech Robotics is taking direct aim at one of the biggest bottlenecks in humanoid robotics: processor autonomy. The company has formed a joint venture with Xixuan Chuangzhi Technology in Wuxi, capitalised at 100 million yuan, to develop intelligent edge chips that can handle complex AI tasks onboard the robot. Partners MetaX and Fenglong are also on board. The move reduces latency, cuts dependency on cloud computing, and gives Ubtech greater control over cost and supply chains — a critical advantage as China’s robot makers face mounting regulatory scrutiny.

The timing is no accident. Ubtech’s fiscal 2025 revenue surged 53.3% to 2.01 billion yuan, with the humanoid segment alone jumping from 35.6 million yuan to 821 million yuan after the company shipped 1,079 units — a volume increase of over 35,000%. The Walker S2, which entered mass production at the end of 2025, is the flagship industrial model and the likely first beneficiary of the new chip strategy. Gross margin improved by 9 percentage points to 37.7%, though a net loss of 790 million yuan underscores the heavy investment still required to scale.

Competition, meanwhile, is closing in fast. Unitree Robotics, which claims to have sold more than 5,500 humanoid units in 2025 — the highest volume globally — is set for its IPO review on the STAR Market in Shanghai on 5 June 2026. But its latest filing reveals a 52.55% drop in non-GAAP net profit in the first quarter of 2026, and the company has lowered its valuation expectations. The contrasting trajectories highlight a sector where high demand alone does not guarantee profitability. Asian robot stocks trade at a median P/E of 22, a 21% discount to their US peers, reflecting the market’s cautious stance.

On the exhibition floor, Ubtech was showcasing the Walker S at the World Intelligence Expo in Tianjin, which opened in late May 2026. The event dedicated a full hall to humanoid robots and embodied intelligence — machines designed to operate in complex, unstructured factory environments. The shift from research labs to industrial applications is being echoed by analysts at Goldman Sachs, who now see the investment focus in AI moving away from infrastructure like chips and data centres toward the application layer. They expect broad commercial deployment of humanoids between 2027 and 2029.

Yet the path is not purely market-driven. China’s “Digital China 2035” plan sets an ambitious goal of 70% semiconductor self-sufficiency by the end of 2025, aiming for near-complete technological independence. New regulations are also taking shape: a unified digital identification system for humanoid robots, based on a four-part code covering country, manufacturer, product type and serial number, will affect more than 100 producers and some 28,000 individual machines. For Ubtech, proprietary edge chips align neatly with these policy objectives — offering a way to meet both regulatory demands and the need for scalable, cost-effective industrial robots.

Back on the stock market, the news failed to lift the shares. Ubtech closed at €11.49 on Friday, down 4.01%, with a weekly loss of 15.78% and a year-to-date decline of 20.77%. The stock now trades just below its 50-day moving average of €11.73. While CEO Jensen Huang of Nvidia has pegged the addressable market for physical AI at $40 trillion, and robot-focused ETFs have posted double-digit gains this year, Ubtech’s next milestone will be operational: proving that its chip bet can convert explosive revenue growth into narrower losses. Until then, the stock remains a volatile play caught between state-backed industrial policy, fierce rivals, and a balance sheet still deep in the red.