China's UBTech jumps on 23-fold surge in humanoid robot sales

Shares of Shenzen-based robotics firm listed in Hong Kong, UBTech, jumped after the robotics firm reported a surge in 2025 revenue, driven by a 23-fold increase in humanoid robot sales.

The company said revenue from full-size “embodied intelligent” humanoid robots and related services reached 820 million yuan (US$119 million), up from 35.6 million yuan (US$5.1 million) in 2024, making it its largest segment.

UBTech said it sold 1,079 full-size humanoid robots in 2025, compared with three units a year earlier, while total revenue rose 53% year on year to 2 billion yuan (US$290.4 million).

It cited broader adoption of scenario-based deployments as a driver of larger commercial orders, as interest grows in “embodied intelligence” that combines AI with physical machines.

🔗 Source: South China Morning Post

🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

Behind the sales boom are persistent losses and a focused factory strategy

Revenue is rising, yet UBTech still loses money. The company posted a net loss of CNY 439 million (US$61.5 million) in the first half of 2025 1.
Analysts put break-even in 2027 2. Getting its robotics business to scale still takes heavy investment.
Recent orders mainly come from robots built for narrow factory work, including material handling, quality inspection, and item sorting 3.
That approach has landed deployments in facilities tied to BYD (a Chinese electric-vehicle maker), Geely Auto (a Chinese automaker), Foxconn (a major electronics contract manufacturer), and SF Express (a Chinese logistics company) 3.

Ubtech’s rise signals a rapid commoditization of robotics hardware

Plans to ramp production to 5,000 units in 2026 lean on China’s domestic manufacturing ecosystem 3.
More than 90% of the components in its humanoid robots come from China, tapping the country’s electric-vehicle supply chain to bring costs down faster 3.
UBTech expects manufacturing costs to drop 20% to 30% each year 3. That pace points to humanoid robot hardware turning into a commodity sooner than many expected.
Competition is moving from building robots to putting them to work. Robotics firms now need full-stack software plus on-the-ground operating know-how, including UBTech’s partnership with Siemens (a global industrial technology company) to digitize manufacturing workflows 4.