As capital floods into China's artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics industries, two robotics startups have reportedly emerged as new unicorns, defined as startups valued at over 1 billion U.S. dollars.

According to a Bloomberg report on June 30 (local time), AI² Robotics recently secured nearly 5 billion yuan (approximately 1.1 trillion won) through a funding round, while X-Square announced the completion of a series of fundraising efforts without disclosing specific figures.

Through these rounds, the valuations of both companies have surpassed 20 billion yuan (approximately 4.5 trillion won) each.

Data from the Chinese firm IT Juzi shows that in the first half of this year, 226 companies in the embodied intelligence and robotics sectors engaged in 288 fundraising rounds. The disclosed funding amount reached 46 billion yuan (approximately 10.4 trillion won), already exceeding the total for the entire previous year.

Bloomberg identified the development of AI models for robots as the sector attracting the most capital this year, noting that approximately 140 companies are currently active in this field.

The report added that investors are searching for companies capable of boosting productivity enough to justify the costs of humanoid robots, while firms are developing technologies that can be used on a large scale in settings such as factories to replace human labor.

Chinese authorities have recently been focusing on lowering the barriers for related companies to raise funds, emphasizing self-reliance and strength in advanced technologies. Unitree, a leading humanoid robotics company, is currently pursuing an initial public offering (IPO).

Unitree passed the authorities' IPO review on June 1 and plans to raise approximately 4.202 billion yuan (approximately 958.4 billion won) through the future IPO to invest in research and development and the construction of production facilities.

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