Unitree Robotics is heading for a closely watched Shanghai STAR Market debut after pricing its IPO at 150.8 yuan per share, raising 6.1 billion yuan, or about $905 million, and valuing the Hangzhou-based humanoid and quadruped robot maker at about 61 billion yuan, or roughly $9 billion. Retail demand intensified further, with the IPO more than 8,000 times oversubscribed by retail investors, a record for Shanghai's STAR Market, while Chinese media reported scalpers offering about 410 yuan a share, or a 170% premium to the offer price, to successful subscribers. Expectations for the stock's debut have also spread across alternative markets: private-share platforms including EquityZen, UpMarket and Hiive imply gains of nearly three times, while Unitree-linked derivative trading on Hyperliquid and Gate pointed to prices at almost four times the IPO level. Unitree is seen as a standout in China's humanoid-robot race because it is already profitable, is described as the world's biggest humanoid-robot maker by sales, and will be the first general-purpose robotics company to list in mainland China. Investors have also focused on its perceived state backing as China pushes to strengthen its position in advanced technology, with founder Wang Xingxing having attended a summit hosted by Chinese President Xi Jinping and the company backed by Tencent, Alibaba and DeepSeek. The frenzy follows a strong Shanghai debut by chipmaker CXMT, whose shares rose more than fivefold in recent weeks, but some analysts cautioned that enthusiasm may be running ahead of fundamentals given rising competition, still-limited factory use cases and potential barriers to U.S. sales.