"Robot Invisible Winner" stock price surged over 200%

Author | Huang Yu

Editor | Zhou Zhiyu

From the Spring Festival Gala in the Year of the Snake, Yushu Technology gained attention with its humanoid robot performing the Yangge dance, to now initiating its IPO guidance, the humanoid robot sector has been continuously booming this year, igniting enthusiasm in the secondary market.

Humanoid robots still have a long way to go before reaching a true "iPhone moment," so upstream key component suppliers are benefiting first, ahead of complete machine manufacturers. Among them, Changsheng Bearing (SZ:300718), regarded as an invisible champion in the domestic self-lubricating bearing field, has emerged as one of the winners.

According to Wall Street News, since the beginning of this year, Changsheng Bearing's stock price has increased by over 210%. On July 21, influenced by Yushu Technology's initiation of IPO guidance, Changsheng Bearing's stock hit the daily limit, with an increase of 20% on that day, closing at approximately 95.28 yuan per share, with a total market value of about 28.5 billion yuan.

The reason Changsheng Bearing has become a "star stock" in the robot concept sector is due to its close ties with the "hot favorite" Yushu Technology.

It is reported that Changsheng Bearing is already a core supplier in Yushu Technology's supply chain. Currently, the products Changsheng Bearing collaborates on with Yushu Technology mainly include self-lubricating bearings used in robot joints, which have already achieved small-batch production and sales.

The so-called "self-lubricating bearing" is a mechanical component that can achieve low-friction operation without the need for additional lubricants, applicable in industries such as construction machinery, automobiles, robots, and aerospace.

It is important to note that humanoid robots have a complex structure, and one reason Chinese humanoid robot companies can compete with American firms in this global race is China's significant supply chain advantages.

The self-lubricating bearings provided by Changsheng Bearing support the flexible operation of humanoid robot joints.

Notably, aside from Yushu Technology, Changsheng Bearing has revealed on investor interaction platforms that it is also in the stage of technical exchanges and collaborative research and development with UBTECH and Zhiyuan Robotics.

Changsheng Bearing is a company focused on the research, development, production, and sales of self-lubricating bearings, established in 1995, and successfully listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange's Growth Enterprise Market in 2017. With a strong technical foundation in traditional mechanical component manufacturing, Changsheng Bearing has also been recognized as a national specialized and innovative "little giant" enterprise.

However, the industry in which Changsheng Bearing operates is very traditional, and after going public, its stock price performance has been lukewarm.

The recent surge in interest in humanoid robots since last year has added considerable imagination space for this company.

Having been exploring the robot market, Changsheng Bearing finally opened up the market in 2024 and, for the first time in its 2024 semi-annual report, listed the robotics industry as one of its main businesses.

Changsheng Bearing pointed out that bearings are essential components in the rotating joints of robots, primarily responsible for supporting, guiding rotation, and reducing friction. Bearings enable the joints of robots to move more smoothly and reduce energy loss "Common types of bearings include rolling bearings and sliding bearings. Sliding bearings have a larger contact area and consistency, which provides better impact resistance and high load capacity, a simple structure, and no need for additional lubrication devices, significantly reducing manufacturing costs, and requiring little or no lubricating oil, thus lowering maintenance costs in the later stages."

CSB's research direction in the robotics field mainly focuses on self-lubricating bearings used at joints and screw products in some linear actuators. CSB stated that its developed sliding bearings feature low cost, high strength, high load capacity, and maintenance-free characteristics, which can effectively simplify mechanical design and structure, reduce costs, and extend service life.

According to CSB's 2024 annual report, some of its products have achieved small-batch production and sales in the field of robotic components, although the revenue from these products accounts for a low proportion (less than 1%) of the company's main business revenue, and some products are still in the sample submission and testing stages.

Financial report data shows that from 2022 to 2024, CSB achieved revenues of 1.071 billion yuan, 1.105 billion yuan, and 1.137 billion yuan, representing year-on-year increases of 8.77%, 3.18%, and 2.89%, respectively; in 2024, CSB's net profit attributable to shareholders was 229 million yuan, a year-on-year decline of 5.43%.

Faced with weak performance growth, CSB urgently needs to explore new market space, and the currently hot robotics sector is clearly a good choice.

In its 2024 annual report, CSB stated that the company will continue to strengthen cooperation and communication with parties related to the robotics industry chain, develop corresponding products and applications based on customer needs, and provide integrated solutions for customers' personalized requirements.

Public information shows that the earliest reported connection between CSB and Yushu Technology was on July 16 last year, when CSB announced that it was collaborating with multiple robot manufacturers and related suppliers for research and development, mentioning Yushu Technology. Since then, CSB has been categorized as a "humanoid robot concept stock."

Since the end of last year, with the increasing popularity of the humanoid robot sector and Yushu Technology's breakthrough in products, CSB's stock price has experienced explosive growth.

Some investors pointed out that CSB has successfully positioned itself in the popular humanoid robot industry chain, significantly enhancing the capital market's expectations for its future performance, leading to a massive influx of funds that ultimately drove the stock price to consecutive limit-ups.

In addition, Dongxing Securities analysts believe that the mass production of humanoid robots is imminent, and bearings, as general components, are expected to see a surge in demand. CSB has been deeply engaged in the bearing industry for many years, leading in technological advantages in sliding bearings, and is also proactively laying out in the micro screw field, which is expected to benefit significantly from the commercialization process of humanoid robots.

The future market space for humanoid robots is vast. Jack Ma stated at Tesla's 2023 shareholder meeting that he believes the market demand for humanoid robots will exceed that of new energy vehicles and even traditional fuel vehicles.

The High-tech Industry Research Institute (GGII) released the "2025 Humanoid Robot Industry Development Blue Book," predicting that global humanoid robot market sales are expected to reach 12,400 units by 2025, with a market size of 6.339 billion yuan; By 2030, global sales of humanoid robots are expected to approach 340,000 units, with a market size exceeding 64 billion yuan; by 2035, global sales of humanoid robots will exceed 5 million units, with a market size exceeding 400 billion yuan.

Regarding the future market landscape, Qiu Shiliang, co-director of the Zhejiang Securities Research Institute, believes that during the initial technological solution phase of humanoid robots, European and American manufacturers led by Tesla may maintain a lead, but once large-scale commercialization begins, Chinese manufacturers are expected to surpass the latecomers. In the future large-scale development of global humanoid robots, most of the supply will come from Chinese manufacturers.

Since the beginning of this year, some commercial orders for humanoid robots have further strengthened market confidence. However, the market generally believes that the "iPhone moment" for humanoid robots will not arrive so soon, and it may even have to wait until after 2030.

On this track full of potential and challenges, the future of supply chain companies like CSB will also face many difficulties. They must leverage technological innovation to accelerate the commercialization of humanoid robots in order to reach new heights together.

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