JPM Humanoid Robot

J P M O R G A N Asia Pacific Equity Research 19 August 2026

This material is neither intended to be distributed to Mainland China investors nor to provide securities investment consultancy services within the territory of Mainland China. This material or any portion hereof may not be reprinted, sold or redistributed without the written consent of J.P. Morgan.

Humanoid Robot Physical AI’s public debut: Sector rotation, policy support, and the new valuation anchors

Unitree’s Aug. 19 IPO will likely mark a watershed moment for humanoid Infrastructure, Industrials & robotics, propelling the sector from scarcity-driven “proxy” trades to genuine Transport public-market price discovery for pure-play OEMs. This shift is unfolding amid Karen Li, CFA AC aggressive policy support—China deploying Rmb7T in infrastructure and national ( standards, the US leveraging foundation-model talent and compute, and Korea J.P. Morgan Securities (Asia Pacific) Limited/ J.P. focusing on industrial-grade deployment through Hyundai and Google/NVIDIA Morgan Broking (Hong Kong) Limited partnerships. As the IPO pipeline accelerates, valuation anchors will likely be reset Sunny Su and capital should rotate toward tangible execution and commercial proof points, ( with volatility reminiscent of AI plays. We see the listed humanoid/robotics trade entering a digestion phase, as upcoming IPOs like Unitree and AgiBot could create J.P. Morgan Securities (Asia Pacific) Limited/ J.P. Morgan Broking (Hong Kong) Limited a 1–6 month overhang as investors reassess scarcity value and fund allocation. Neil Zhang Despite fewer incremental near-term catalysts, we believe the YTD sell-off in ( Chinese robot OEMs including UBTech is likely overdone versus shipment upgrades and margin recovery. We maintain Overweight ratings on Estun and J.P. Morgan Securities (Asia Pacific) Limited/ J.P. Morgan Broking (Hong Kong) Limited UBTech, trimming UBTech’s price target to HK$118 (8x FY27E P/S) as both companies remain well positioned to benefit from commercialization milestones Jenny Qiu, CFA ( and sector leadership. Our conviction remains strongest in scalable component champions like Leader Drive, Sanhua Intelligent, and Hengli Hydraulic, all rated J.P. Morgan Securities (Asia Pacific) Limited/ J.P. Overweight, as we believe domestic supply chain names are poised to benefit from Morgan Broking (Hong Kong) Limited strong order momentum and commercialization commitments. In Korea, we Mufan Shi continue to prefer OEMs (HMC/Kia; both OW) over parts suppliers, given OEMs’ ( increasing discretion across the value chain in both autos and robotics. Investors J.P. Morgan Securities (Asia Pacific) Limited/ J.P. must now navigate a landscape where commercial proof points, manufacturing Morgan Broking (Hong Kong) Limited discipline, and real-world reliability—not just software narratives—define the Beatrice Lam winners. ( • How will the IPO wave shift investor focus from scarcity premiums to J.P. Morgan Securities (Asia Pacific) Limited/ J.P. Morgan Broking (Hong Kong) Limited event-driven catalysts and commercial proof points? Unitree’s IPO is likely to be not just a milestone for the company but a sector-wide reset, with its issue Sonny Lee ( price and P/S multiple setting a new benchmark, while AgiBot’s upcoming Hong Kong IPO and US players like Agility Robotics and Figure AI prepare J.P. Morgan Securities (Far East) Limited, Seoul to follow. The oversubscription of Unitree’s retail tranche highlights the Branch market’s hunger for pure-play humanoid exposure, and this new supply is poised to compress scarcity premiums for incumbents. Investors are now benchmarking on shipment credibility, production cadence, and gross margin bridges, shifting away from “owning the only listed name” toward rewarding tangible execution and multi-site deployment wins. The upcoming IPO pipeline could create a 1–6 month overhang as investors reassess scarcity value, valuation anchors, and fund allocation across existing proxies versus new issues. • Why is the “Physical AI vs. LLM” debate central to underwriting the duration and market structure in humanoid robotics? Unlike LLMs, humanoid robots face…