Not long ago we marveled at what quadruped robots were capable of doing. Today, humanoid robots monopolize all the spotlights and the stunts they are capable of performing left on the floor what seemed impressive to us at the time. Although There are several companies in the humanoid robot race, There is one that is leading this transformation and is one step away from gaining global dominance: Unitree Robotics. Its strategy closely follows what other giants such as DJI or BYD did previously.
10,000 units. It is the key figure to understand Unitree’s advantage in the emerging market for humanoid robots. Tesla and Figure have surprised us by showing what their robots are capable of, but neither has achieved something key: putting them on sale en masse. According to Semianalysisin the coming weeks Unitree will have distributed 10,000 units of its robots.
Unstoppable growth. The Unitree empire began with quadruped robots and it was not until 2023 when they introduced their first humanoid, the Unitree H1. The financial growth of recent years perfectly reflects this explosion: in 2022 they invoiced 122 million yuan (about 15.5 million euros) and in 2025 they invoiced 1,167 million yuan in the first nine months alone, almost 150 million euros. The combination of high-performance solutions at competitive prices has made Unitree the first company to begin to democratize a technology that until recently was the realm of science fiction.
The path that DJI started. What Unitree is doing with robotics is the same thing that DJI did with drones. In 2013, DJI Phantom launcheda very cheap and incomplete product, but at that time the alternatives were toy drones or professional drones with a much higher cost, DJI was creating the market for consumer drones. With each new generation they added functions and opened more submarkets, from research, photo and video professionals and of course amateurs.
Vertical integration. It is the key strategy of DJI and other Chinese giants such as BYD. It is about controlling the supply chain as much as possible, manufacturing critical components in a way that allows them to technically iterate much faster and, in the long run, drastically reduce costs. In addition, DJI took advantage of the huge Chinese electronics ecosystem, in which prices dropped a lot in a short time. They say in Semianalysis that GPS went from costing 800 dollars in 2003 to less than 14 dollars in 2013flight controllers cost $2,000 in 2006 and only $400 in 2011.
DJI started by manufacturing the largest and most complex component, the flight controller, and BYD made the same with batteries. This is how they ate up the market, controlling critical components and creating a cost structure unattainable by any competitor.
Unitree’s strategy. The company, which by the way was founded by a former DJI employeeis following DJI’s lead in that they manufacture the critical component (the actuator, which is what is responsible for moving the robot’s limbs) and have opened new markets for robotics. First they perfected and they made quadrupeds cheaperand then they made the leap to humanoids. Its first model, the Unitree H1, cost about $90,000, but today the Unitree G1 can be had for only $13,500.
They have encountered many problems along the way, such as overheating when the robot held weight for a few minutes, but controlling many of the key parts has allowed them to quickly iterate and solve it. In other words, it may not be the best robot, it is its ability to improve it that is unrivaled.
The Pentagon blockade. Just yesterday we said that The US has added more Chinese companies to its blacklistamong which is Unitree. The reason they have given is that they consider it to be directly linked to the Chinese army. Being on this list means that, from now on, the Pentagon is prohibited from contracting directly with these companies and starting next year they will not be able to do so through third parties either. All of the companies on the list compete directly with other American companies, so there seems to be an intention to slow their progress. Maybe they’ll be late.
Image | Xataka with Magnific
In Xataka | Humanoid robotics are striking, but China is clear about which robots make money
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