Zhiyuan Innovation Starts Hong Kong IPO Prep After Buying 63.62% of A-Share Firm

Zhiyuan Innovation Technology has started preparations for a Hong Kong listing after spending 2.1 billion yuan to acquire 63.62% of Shanghai-listed Swancor Advanced Materials, according to Jiemian News. The company, founded in 2023 and formerly known as Zhiyuan Robot, had a valuation of 15 billion yuan after a financing round in May 2025; investors were cited as saying it could list as early as August 2026, with cornerstone investors targeting an implied valuation of HK$40 billion to HK$50 billion, while the company had reportedly sought as much as HK$80 billion. Jiemian News reported that Zhiyuan ranked first globally in humanoid robot shipments in 2025, with Omdia putting its shipments at 5,168 units for a 39% market share. IDC separately said global humanoid robot shipments reached about 18,000 units in 2025, up roughly 508% year on year, and that Zhiyuan shipped about 5,200 units. The company said it had mass-produced 5,000 robots in 2025, rolled out its 10,000th general-purpose embodied robot by the end of March 2026, and surpassed 15,000 cumulative units by June 2026. It also said 2025 revenue was 1.05 billion yuan, revenue in the first quarter of 2026 exceeded 1 billion yuan, and full-year 2026 revenue is expected to reach 4 billion yuan, with plans to produce tens of thousands of units in 2026.