Unitree, a major Chinese humanoid robot maker, saw its shares rise by as much as 629% on Wednesday.

This was its first day of trading in Shanghai.

The company raised about 6.1 billion yuan ($904 million) on the STAR market.

Its shares closed 460% higher at 845 yuan ($125.31).

Advanced robotics is a key area in the technology competition between China and the U.S.

China leads in production capacity and manufacturing scale.

Last year, Unitree and AGIBOT each shipped over 5,000 humanoid robots worldwide.

That is far ahead of U.S. rivals, according to Omdia.

For the first half of 2026, Omdia estimates Chinese makers will ship about 18,500 units.

Analysts say many humanoid robots are still used mainly for shows and research.

Morningstar analyst Kangyuxiao Li said the real test is whether companies can work reliably in large factories.

Unitree said it will use the IPO money for robot research and manufacturing development.

Unitree is the first publicly traded humanoid robotics maker in mainland China.

Its debut happened at the same time as the World Robot Conference in Beijing.

The company reported about 1.7 billion yuan ($250 million) in 2025 revenue.

Over 40% of that came from overseas.

The U.S. made up roughly 13% of revenue last year.

But a U.S. ban on new foreign-made robots could hurt future sales.

Omdia's Lian Jye Su said Chinese makers will likely look for markets outside the U.S., such as Europe.