UBTECH Sells 921 Humanoid Robots in H1, Revenue Surges 14-Fold as Losses Narrow Over 20% — BigGo Finance

UBTECH (09880.HK), a leader in the humanoid robot sector, delivered a report card with doubled revenue. On August 28, the company announced its first-half 2026 results: operating revenue of 1.27 billion yuan (RMB, same below; approximately $188.8 million), up 104.1% year-over-year; net loss of 339 million yuan (approximately $50.4 million), narrowing 23% from the same period last year.

According to the financial report, the core engine driving the revenue surge was the full-size Embodied Intelligence humanoid robot business. In the first half, this product line generated revenue of 590 million yuan (approximately $87.8 million), soaring 1,445% year-over-year and accounting for 46.5% of total revenue, with 921 units sold during the period. Of this, 21.25 million yuan (approximately $3.2 million) came from the education sector, while 569 million yuan (approximately $84.7 million) came from customization for other industries.

Overall profitability quality improved simultaneously. First-half gross profit was 567 million yuan (approximately $84.4 million), up 160.9% year-over-year; gross margin improved 9.7 percentage points to 44.7%. R&D expenses were 303 million yuan (approximately $45.1 million), up 38.9% year-over-year. UBTECH stated in its financial report that the company continues to increase R&D investment in Embodied Intelligence humanoid robots and has officially entered three major application scenarios: industrial, commercial, and home consumer.

Another financial information platform cited slightly different figures, reporting revenue of 1.27 billion yuan (approximately $189.0 million) for the period, with losses narrowing to 311 million yuan (approximately $46.3 million), compared to a loss of 413 million yuan (approximately $61.4 million) in the same period last year, with a loss per share of 62 cents and no interim dividend declared.

Traditional Business Under Pressure

In contrast to the high growth of Embodied Intelligence humanoid robots, revenue from other intelligent robot products and solutions declined. In the first half, this business segment generated revenue of 246 million yuan (approximately $36.6 million), down 18.8% year-over-year, with its share of total revenue falling to 19.4%. Breaking it down, 137 million yuan (approximately $20.4 million) came from the logistics industry, and 96.73 million yuan (approximately $14.4 million) from the education sector.

This data reflects the accelerating shift in UBTECH’s business structure: demand for traditional logistics and educational robots is weakening, while humanoid robots—particularly those customized for industrial and commercial applications—are becoming the new growth pillar.

Industry Background and Outlook

UBTECH is one of the few Chinese companies to achieve scaled shipments of humanoid robots. Since 2025, the Embodied Intelligence sector has continued to heat up, with multiple tech giants and startups entering the fray, driving humanoid robots from laboratories into factory floors and commercial scenarios. UBTECH’s move to explicitly expand application scenarios to home consumer use signals that its commercialization path is extending from B2B to B2C.

However, the industry as a whole remains in a high-investment phase. While UBTECH’s first-half R&D expense growth rate (38.9%) was lower than its revenue growth rate, the absolute amount still exceeded 300 million yuan (approximately $44.6 million), indicating that the company continues to ramp up investment between technology iteration and product commercialization.

Market Focus Points

For investors, the core concerns are: whether the 921-unit sales volume can continue to scale up in the second half, and whether gross margin can further improve through economies of scale. The 44.7% gross margin is already at a relatively high level for the industry, but net losses remain above 300 million yuan, indicating that the absorption of selling expenses, administrative expenses, and R&D investment still requires time.

From the revenue structure perspective, “customization for other industries” contributed the vast majority of humanoid robot business revenue (569 million yuan, or approximately $84.7 million), with the education sector accounting for only a fraction. This suggests that UBTECH’s customer concentration may be relatively high, and the impact of order fluctuations from any single industry on performance warrants attention.

As of press time, UBTECH’s stock price was trading within its recent range, with a short-selling ratio of approximately 17.5%, reflecting ongoing market divergence over high-valuation growth stocks.