China’s Unitree posts 70% rise in third-quarter revenue, 17% fall in net profit

[Financial News] China’s leading robot maker, Unitree Robotics (Yushu Technology), reported a decline in net profit despite higher third-quarter revenue in its first earnings announcement since listing, amid the effects of increased research and development (R&D) spending, among other factors
According to Yicai and other outlets on the 29th (local time), Unitree disclosed the previous day that third-quarter revenue rose 69.93% year on year to 665.04 million yuan (about 133.5 billion won).
Net profit attributable to shareholders, by contrast, fell 17.37% year on year to 112.69 million yuan (about 22.6 billion won). That was about half of the market forecast of 224 million yuan (about 44.9 billion won), compiled by Reuters. Third-quarter net profit plunged 49.55% from the previous quarter.
Third-quarter R&D costs rose 249.58% year on year to 127 million yuan (about 25.5 billion won), weighing on results. That amounted to 19% of revenue.
For the first three quarters, revenue rose 55.71% year on year to 1.817 billion yuan (about 364.8 billion won), net profit increased 270.54% to 387 million yuan (about 77.6 billion won), and R&D costs rose 191.48% to 263 million yuan (about 52.7 billion won).
The increase in net profit for the first three quarters was influenced in part by a base effect from large one-off share-based compensation costs in the previous year. Excluding one-off costs, net profit fell about 18% year on year.
Unitree said it continues to increase its R&D investment in physical artificial intelligence (AI), with a particularly sharp rise in investment related to ‘embodied large models’ (ELM), which serve as the brains of robots, and computing power. It also said it had expanded its R&D workforce and continued developing new products.
Zhou Mi, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, said sustained R&D investment was essential, as the key technological pathways in the robotics industry have yet to be fully established.
Yicai reported that market competition is intensifying and that, according to market research firms such as International Data Corporation (IDC), Agibot (Zhiyuan) overtook Unitree in humanoid robot shipment rankings in the first half of this year. Unitree’s share price has been volatile, plunging nearly 55% after its August listing before rising more than 65% over the past two weeks.
Unitree recently drew attention after unveiling a new humanoid model, the H2-X Kung Fu Legend Guardian, which can serve as a ‘bodyguard.’ Chairman Wang Xingxing said, “Physical AI is already showing signs of a (technological) breakthrough,” and said a breakthrough could come in as little as one to two years, or two to three years.

[email protected] Lee Seok-woo, International Affairs Correspondent Reporter