{"text":[[{"start":12.04,"text":"Shares in Chinese humanoid robot maker Unitree surged more than 600 per cent on their trading debut in Shanghai on Wednesday, highlighting a mounting onshore investor frenzy for technology companies."}],[{"start":24.34,"text":"The stock gained as much as 629 per cent before falling back to close 460 per cent higher at Rmb845 ($125)."}],[{"start":41.62,"text":"Unitree’s market capitalisation briefly soared above Rmb400bn ($59bn), putting it among the ranks of China’s most valuable companies."}],[{"start":45.22,"text":"The initial public offering was priced at Rmb150.8 ($22.36) a share, valuing the company at about $9bn ahead of the debut."}],[{"start":55.96,"text":"The tranche of shares for retail investors was more than 5,500 times oversubscribed, which reflected “tremendous investor enthusiasm for the company”, said Kenny Ng, a strategist at Everbright Securities International. “This is partly due to Unitree’s high brand recognition in mainland China.”"}],[{"start":73.88,"text":"Its robots have been shown dancing, jumping and boxing at lunar new year galas, which are among the most-watched events on Chinese television."}],[{"start":81.76,"text":"Valuations for some of China’s newest technology firms are at record highs because of a combination of government support and investor enthusiasm."}],[{"start":90.18,"text":"The surge put Unitree’s trailing price-to-earnings ratio at almost 1,200, underscoring the high expectations for the company’s growth potential."}],[{"start":99,"text":"Unitree shipped 5,500 humanoid robots last year."}],[{"start":102.6,"text":"Rinat Mirzaitov, who recently founded Humanoid Analytics to track android shipments and usage, said Unitree had a “unique niche” as it dominated the market for selling robots to researchers, but it now needed to expand into others."}],[{"start":115.76,"text":"“Where money comes from will be from the household and personal assistant and maybe the industrial and commercial [markets]. Unitree just started the first step,” he said."}],[{"start":124.8,"text":"Investors remain optimistic about the sector’s growth prospects. Kieron Poon, investment director for Asian equities at Aberdeen, said: “We are positive on humanoids.”"}],[{"start":135.64,"text":"He added that component suppliers to robotics firms would have the most benefits: “Right now we’re looking at the upstream for the humanoid supply chain first.”"}],[{"start":144,"text":"Unitree is one of the few listed humanoid robotics companies, with its largest competitor, AgiBot, remaining private. Another rival, UBTech, is listed in Hong Kong."}],[{"start":156,"text":"The IPO made Unitree “a rare pure-play player of humanoid robot[s] in the Chinese A-share stock market”, said Ming Lee, head of Greater China autos and industrials research at BofA Global Research."}],[{"start":169.6,"text":"“This would provide a valuation anchor and a path reference for the subsequent listings of many other Chinese robotics companies.”"}],[{"start":176.6,"text":"The frenzy comes despite the US Federal Communications Commission banning imports of humanoid robots last month in a move widely seen as targeting Chinese products."}],[{"start":186.6,"text":"According to Unitree, overseas revenue accounts for more than 40 per cent of its earnings, with the US making up between 13.3 per cent and 18.4 per cent depending on the year."}],[{"start":203.84,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1787125621_8430.mp3"}