Unitree Robotics has priced its initial public offering at 150.8 yuan ($22.4) a share, raising $900 million and valuing the Hangzhou-based humanoid robot maker at 61 billion yuan, or about $9 billion, ahead of its Shanghai STAR market listing later this month. The deal, set to make Unitree the first humanoid robot company to list on the mainland, drew record retail demand, with the online tranche oversubscribed more than 5,000 times and the lot-winning rate dropping to 0.018%, while strategic investors included AI startup DeepSeek. Speculative enthusiasm also spilled into crypto markets, where a Unitree-linked pre-IPO perpetual contract (a derivative with no expiry) on Hyperliquid traded at roughly four times the IPO price as of Friday. The fervor comes despite persistent doubts over how soon humanoid robots can move from demos and research into sustained commercial use. Analysts and the company itself say robotic hands, battery limits, software constraints and task-specific training still restrict adoption, even as lower manufacturing costs and Chinese policy support for automation lift interest in the sector. Unitree's revenue more than quadrupled last year, but first-quarter adjusted profit fell more than 52% as spending on research and development and marketing increased, and nearly three-quarters of humanoid revenue in the first nine months of 2025 came from research and education. The company also faces geopolitical risks after the U.S. banned imports of foreign-made humanoid and four-legged robots last month, while analysts warn Chinese producers remain dependent on some Western components, including Nvidia's robotics hardware and software stack.