Wang Xingxing, Preparing to "Wholesale" Billionaires

How does AI · Yushu achieve profitability in humanoid robotics through technological breakthroughs?

Author: Lin Qiuyi

Source: China Entrepreneur Magazine

On March 20, Yushu Technology’s IPO application was accepted by the Shanghai Stock Exchange, aiming to raise 4.202 billion yuan. This news hit like a deep-water bomb, causing a shock across the tech industry. The impressive performance in the prospectus also shattered the stereotype that robotics are “money-burning” and hard to profit from.

The prospectus shows that in 2024, Yushu’s revenue will reach 392 million yuan, with a net profit of 95 million yuan. In the first nine months of 2025, revenue increased to 1.168 billion yuan, with a net profit of 105 million yuan, making it one of the few companies in embodied intelligence capable of scaled profitability.

Relying on full-stack self-research and extreme cost control, Yushu’s quadruped robot sales remain the highest globally, with exports to overseas markets; by 2025, its humanoid robot shipments exceeded 5,500 units, leading the commercialization front.

This IPO is not only a milestone for embodied intelligence but also a wealth creator for many Yushu employees and early investors, generating numerous multimillion and billion-level fortunes.

According to the prospectus, Wang Xingxing holds 23.82% of Yushu’s shares; Meituan, Sequoia China, and Matrix Partners are the top three external shareholders, with holdings of 9.65%, 7.12%, and 5.45%, respectively. Based on the last Series C valuation of approximately 12.7 billion yuan, these shares are worth about 1.225 billion yuan, 902 million yuan, and 692 million yuan.

This is the most conservative estimate. Industry insiders generally believe that after Yushu’s successful listing, its market value could soar into the trillions.

Among Yushu’s more than 40 investment institutions, over 20 hold or are close to 1% stake; this will allow many institutions to benefit from this IPO feast.

On March 19, Xiaomi founder Lei Jun invited Wang Xingxing to speak at the new SU7 launch event and publicly thanked him: “Thanks to Wang Xingxing for giving us the opportunity to invest in Yushu five years ago”—Lei Jun’s associated firm, Sinoway Capital’s Astrend IV, with a 4.42% stake, became a significant shareholder and will reap substantial returns.

Igniting the Robotics Track

At the 2026 New Year’s Gala, while global humanoid robotics companies were still struggling with stable standing and smooth walking, Yushu once again proved its technological strength.

Under the spotlight, Yushu robots performed high-difficulty martial arts moves such as drunken fist staggering to stand, carp leap, one-legged continuous backflips, and two-step wall kicks with backflips, with precise synchronized postures and powerful expressions, prompting viewers to comment “This is real technology.”

Although it was their third appearance on the Spring Festival Gala, Yushu’s cutting-edge technical performance caused industry shockwaves and received praise from many industry leaders at home and abroad.

On March 17, Huang Renxun invited Wang Xingxing to speak at NVIDIA GTC 2026 Embodied Intelligence Main Forum.

Recently, DingTalk founder Wu Zhao said he respects two domestic entrepreneurs: DJI’s Wang Tao and Wang Xingxing, “because they both represent the pursuit of ultimate technology and ideals.”

Throughout 2025, Yushu was extremely popular, with its last Series C funding round seeing fierce competition among investors. The prospectus further confirmed its ability to achieve profitability through mass production.

From 2022 to 2024, Yushu’s R&D expenses totaled 150 million yuan; from January to September 2025, R&D costs reached 90.2 million yuan, accounting for 7.73% of revenue, far lower than peers’ multi-billion yuan investments.

More importantly, Yushu’s profitability is not based on cost reduction and efficiency gains but on technological leadership and the scale effects of mass production. This shows investors that humanoid robots are not only the future technological direction but also a profitable business today.

Another highlight of the prospectus is the equity structure: although Wang Xingxing owns 23.82% of shares, he controls over 68% of voting rights.

In legal terms, 34% voting rights are called the “ownership rebel line,” giving veto power on major decisions. With 68% voting rights, Wang Xingxing can unilaterally decide the company’s strategy and technological direction without capital interference.

Additionally, Yushu’s listing will not only make Wang Xingxing a billionaire but also provide huge wealth for core employees.

Currently, Yushu has 480 employees, most of whom are born in the 1990s.

According to the prospectus, three core leaders born in the 90s—Sales and Service Head Chen Li, Mechanical Structure R&D Head Yang Zhiyu, and Algorithm and Software Head Zhang Yangguang—indirectly hold about 0.36%, 0.32%, and 0.32% of Yushu through the Shanghai Yuyi Employee Shareholding Platform. If Yushu’s market value exceeds 100 billion yuan, these managers will also become billionaires.

As a benchmark industry leader, Yushu’s success has a huge “lighthouse effect” on the entire embodied intelligence track.

Before and after the Spring Festival, domestic humanoid robot company valuations generally rose, driving companies like Galaxy General, Zhihui Square, Qianxun Intelligence, and Variable Robots into the “hundred-billion club.”

Technology Enters the Next Level

The rapid move toward IPO is backed by Yushu’s technological breakthroughs. The martial arts performance on the Spring Festival Gala stage is a concentrated display of Yushu robot motion control capabilities.

In core hardware, Yushu’s自主研发的关节电机 achieved key breakthroughs over the past year. Its H2 robot’s torque density reached 189nm/kg, surpassing Boston Dynamics’ Atlas robot at 130nm/kg. The increase in torque density directly solves the explosive power needed for high-difficulty robot movements.

The instantaneous explosive power humans rely on for running and exertion has always been a core technical bottleneck for humanoid robots. Yushu’s high-performance motors have fundamentally broken this barrier.

Besides motor technology, breakthroughs in joint design and battery management also supported the successful Spring Festival performance.

The robot used in the show was equipped with 31 high-precision joints, with millimeter-level motion accuracy, capable of precisely replicating complex martial arts moves.

Yushu also optimized its battery management system, balancing high power output and endurance.

Previously, humanoid robots faced difficulties balancing power, endurance, and lightweight design due to limited battery capacity and joint size. Yushu’s algorithm optimization and hardware integration allowed the robots to perform high-difficulty actions while maintaining stable endurance.

In motion control algorithms, Yushu adopted fully autonomous cluster control technology, eliminating the need for external remote control. The robots can perceive the environment in real-time via onboard 3D LiDAR, plan paths independently, and dynamically adjust formations. The cluster synchronization error is less than 0.1 seconds, allowing automatic correction even if deviations or external disturbances occur.

More critically, breakthroughs in algorithms include the open-source release of the UnifoLM-VLA-0 model in January. This Vision-Language-Action (VLA) model is designed for general humanoid robot operation, achieving an industry-leading average score of 98.7 on the IBERO benchmark.

Meanwhile, Yushu maintains an internal, non-open-source world model route for iterative development.

The prospectus states that Yushu plans to raise about 4.2 billion yuan, with 85% allocated to R&D. The “Intelligent Robot Model R&D Project” alone will invest over 2 billion yuan, nearly half of the total funds, focusing on breakthroughs in embodied intelligence large models and core algorithms.

These technological advantages distinguish Yushu robots from many others that rely on scripted performances, enabling real-time autonomous responses and becoming one of the few companies capable of mass production and profitability solely with humanoid robots.

The prospectus shows that in 2024, Yushu’s humanoid robot business will generate over 100 million yuan, accounting for 27.6% of total revenue.

In the first nine months of 2025, revenue from humanoid robots reached 595 million yuan, surpassing quadruped robots and accounting for 51.53%.

Source: Yushu Prospectus Screenshot

Focus and Determination

To some extent, Wang Xingxing’s and Yushu’s generational lead has entered its own “no man’s land.” This relies on extreme focus on technology and relentless execution of goals.

Previously, Wang Xingxing maintained a low-profile public image, not very talkative, rarely participating in social activities. His only hobby was immersing himself in technical work in the office.

Recently, several current and former Yushu employees revealed that the company claims to have “flexible weekends” and “9-to-6” work hours, but internally, the reality is “9-to-9,” with daily work hours often reaching 12, and frequent overnight work during critical projects.

As the core figure, Wang Xingxing exemplifies the “workaholic.” He often works late into the night and is the last to leave the office. According to media reports, once he was hit in the face by a food delivery scooter, bloodied, but his first reaction was to return to the company to handle work.

In multiple public speeches, Wang Xingxing emphasized that Yushu’s core competitiveness is “perfecting every detail.”

He is also known as a “cost fanatic.”

The prospectus shows that Yushu’s gross profit margin has remained above 40%, reaching 59.83% in the first nine months of 2025, a rare feat in the embodied intelligence field.

In 2023, Yushu launched its first humanoid robot H1, priced nearly 600,000 yuan. Wang Xingxing admitted that “most components are handmade.”

But after mass production, he quickly pushed for supply chain optimization, replacing imported parts like self-developed motors, reducers, and LiDAR. By the time G1 robot was released in 2024, the price had dropped to 260,000 yuan, a reduction of over 50%.

During R&D, Yushu incorporated “mass-producibility” from the design stage, reducing complex parts and optimizing manufacturing processes, while leveraging scale procurement to lower costs.

Although only 410 units of humanoid robots were sold in 2024, the company was already profitable. Stronger bargaining power with suppliers laid the foundation for further price reductions.

Deep understanding of technology has also led Wang Xingxing to make bold predictions about the future of humanoid robotics.

At the Yabuli Forum on March 17, he made two key judgments:

First, by mid-2026, Chinese humanoid robots’ running speed will surpass Bolt, with 100-meter sprints potentially under 10 seconds.

Second, the “ChatGPT moment” for embodied intelligence will still take 2-3 years, mainly due to insufficient generalization ability; robots still cannot complete 80% of tasks in 80% of unfamiliar scenarios based solely on language commands.

On the same day, at NVIDIA GTC 2026, Wang Xingxing further elaborated on three core challenges of embodied intelligence:

1. Insufficient model expressiveness to generate and execute complex, diverse actions;

2. Data scarcity, requiring improved efficiency in utilizing video and simulation data, reducing dependence on real machine data;

3. Lack of scalable reuse mechanisms in reinforcement learning, making training results hard to accumulate.

He clearly stated that he remains optimistic about world models based on video generation, explaining that this approach is highly similar to human behavior: first, imagine and generate high-quality videos of robot tasks in the “brain,” then precisely align these videos with robot actions, transforming them into actual commands to enable robots to perform complex tasks.

On the other hand, the pursuit of technological excellence also brings organizational pressure.

Yushu’s R&D team of 175 people, with annual R&D expenses under 70 million yuan, is considered “lightweight” in the humanoid robot field.

Some employees on social media said that Yushu’s “striver culture” is intense—“working here is both a learning experience and physically exhausting.”

Some admire Wang Xingxing’s focus and determination, while others fear the high intensity and pressure.

But undeniably, this 90s founder is breaking through with extreme technology, implementing cost-effective solutions, and running at maximum efficiency, writing a sharp growth story.

As Yushu enters the capital markets and further ignites embodied intelligence, it will also push the industry toward a more pragmatic, self-research-focused new stage, transforming Chinese embodied intelligence from concept to reality, from chasing to leading.