UNITREE to be included in the world's largest humanoid robot ETF, but robots still need to move beyond the stage

Walking into the New York office of KraneShares, known as the "pioneer of China-concept stock ETFs," several UNITREE humanoid robots are dancing. Just a few days ago, UNITREE Technology listed on the STAR Market; now, this US asset management firm is preparing to bring UNITREE into the ETF accounts of overseas investors.

Tencent Finance has exclusively learned that after UNITREE Technology's listing on the STAR Market, UNITREE will be included in two ETFs under KraneShares: KSTR, which is dual-listed on the NYSE and LSE and tracks the STAR Market, and KOID, listed on Nasdaq. The latter is the first humanoid robot-themed ETF in the US and the largest globally.

In communications with Tencent Finance, Jonathan Krane, CEO of KraneShares, stated bluntly that Morgan Stanley predicts that over 1 billion robots will be in use globally in the next 25 years, with a market size reaching $5 trillion. However, he also admitted that the challenges are just beginning, as most achievements remain at the level of entertainment performances, and core problems such as algorithm generalization have not yet been solved.

01 UNITREE to be included in the largest humanoid robot ETF

KOID underwent more than a year of refinement from design to implementation and has currently attracted continuous inflows from global institutional and individual investors.

Jonathan Krane stated that UNITREE's IPO is a milestone, "which will show the world the growth speed of this industry and allow global investors to see the investment opportunities in this sector more clearly."

Notably, KOID does not bet on a single complete machine manufacturer but covers the entire humanoid robot industry chain. The fund tracks the MerQube Global Humanoid Robot & Physical AI Index, holding 51 to 58 global stocks, with technology (semiconductors and electronics) accounting for about 45%, industrial manufacturing about 33%, and consumer goods about 13%; regionally, North America and Asia each account for about 41%, and Europe about 15%.

Global leaders sit in every key link of the industry chain: On the rare earth side, Australia's Lynas is the largest rare earth producer outside of China; on the precision transmission side, Japan's Harmonic Drive, Leaderdrive, and Shuanghuan Driveline cover two technical routes; on the semiconductor side, STMicroelectronics, Infineon, and Texas Instruments span motor control and sensor signal chains; on the connector side, TE Connectivity supports the robot's "nerves and skeleton"; on the visual perception side, Sweden's Hexagon and the US's Cognex have their respective layouts; on the complete machine side, Horizon Robotics, South Korea's Rainbow Robotics (held by Samsung), and warehouse automation leader Symbotic are all included.

The presence of the Chinese supply chain is particularly prominent. A-share targets such as Cowell (servo drives), Lingyi iTech (precision structural parts), and Keli Sensing have all entered the holdings. Jonathan Krane explicitly stated that there is no cap on Chinese targets—"Chinese companies are already at the forefront of the world in core components."

02 China and the US may still cooperate amidst competition

Geopolitical uncertainty has not caused Jonathan Krane to avoid Chinese assets. In his view, China is already at the forefront of the world in core components such as actuators, servo motors, and batteries, while the US advantage is concentrated in software and AI; the two form a natural complementarity, and industrial collaboration is the general trend.

In his view, Nvidia chips are used by both UNITREE and US domestic robot companies, "the circulation of top-tier technology across geopolitical boundaries is itself an unbreakable bond of China-US cooperation."

Several experts pointed out to Tencent Finance that the Chinese and US robot industries have different focuses: North American companies like Figure and Tesla focus more on the ultimate goal of combining bipedal forms with large models, with longer R&D verification cycles; Chinese companies, leveraging a complete supply chain and rapid delivery capabilities, present a "blooming" situation, better at product differentiation based on their own technical advantages—companies good at control do multi-form demonstrations, while those focusing on the "brain" avoid complex motion control with wheeled chassis.

Regarding recent possible restrictions by the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on optical modules and robots, Jonathan Krane's judgment is that business logic will eventually prevail. There is a precedent for the path—in the electric vehicle industry chain, although complete vehicles are difficult to enter North America, battery companies such as Gotion High-Tech have established factories in the US, and CATL also plays a key role; the robot industry chain follows a similar pattern.

03 Embodied intelligence still faces challenges in generalization ability and practical application

It is undeniable that UNITREE humanoid robots have gone viral on social media at home and abroad, but most achievements remain at the performance display level, with limited commercial landing scenarios.

Several industry insiders told Tencent Finance that regarding commercialization thresholds, early capital investment is high, and ROI pressure is significant. Non-standardized scenarios—hospitals, hotels, homes—have technical difficulties far exceeding those of warehouses and factories; the industry must first succeed in structured scenarios before talking about scale; the unit price of complete machines also needs to decrease further to truly popularize them in B-end and C-end markets.

On the technical level, hardware is relatively mature, with the shortcoming lying in the "brain." UNITREE's WVLA2.0, released in May 2026, integrates world models and VLA architecture, but industry insiders admit there are still obvious shortcomings: lack of quantitative evaluation of continuous task success rates; limited generalization ability, currently mostly demonstrated in controlled conference room environments, struggling with complex situations such as different table heights, lighting, and clutter; insufficient memory and exception handling capabilities for long-duration tasks; latency in Action Chunking mode during sudden environmental changes, leading to action jitter; and the grasping precision for special objects such as transparent, reflective, and slender items needs improvement.

Market competition is equally cruel. Hundreds of start-ups are in fierce competition, with the survival rate of complete machine manufacturers in doubt; overseas VCs generally still prefer the mature industrial automation sector, and the financing environment for early-stage humanoid robots is relatively cautious.

Jonathan Krane believes that commercial landing in factories, hotels, and hospitals will be realized successively, and humanoid robots will eventually enter ordinary households. "Efficiency improvement and practical value will soon penetrate society and the labor market." But the timeline for this path is longer than the current heat in the capital market. UNITREE's IPO is a starting point, not an endpoint.

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