If you believe Unitree CEO Wang Xingxing, we're at an inflection point for robotics. The wildly popular Chinese robotics executive recently declared that while the past decade was about "sprouting and exploration," the next ten years will bring "growth and blossoming." His vision? Robots evolving from things that merely move to devices that accomplish tasks, shifting from industrial tools to everyday companions.

Whether Wang's crystal ball is accurate remains anyone's guess. But here's what's undeniably true right now: Chinese investors have gone absolutely bonkers for anything remotely robot-related. The sector has become the flavor of the month, driving massive demand and outsized gains for virtually any stock with "robot" in its name.

Enter Chengdu CRP Robot Technology Co. Ltd., the latest company trying to capitalize on this frenzy. The industrial robot specialist filed an application for a Hong Kong IPO last week, hoping to catch the wave while it's still building.

Actually Making Money (Sometimes)

Here's where CRP's story gets interesting. The company reported revenue of 156 million yuan ($21.95 million) in the first half of 2025, representing a solid 36% jump year-over-year. More impressively, it turned an 8.44 million yuan profit for the period. That's noteworthy because most of CRP's Hong Kong-listed robotics peers are still bleeding cash.

CRP operates across three segments: industrial robots (its bread and butter), collaborative robots, and embodied intelligent robots. According to third-party market data cited in its prospectus, the company ranked first among Chinese welding robot makers by revenue last year. It's also a leader in robot applications for China's metal and machining sector.

Five Friends and a Dream

The CRP origin story is straight out of the startup playbook. Back in 2012, when China still relied heavily on imported industrial robots, Deng Shihai and four fellow millennials born after 1980 made a bet. They were convinced that domestic robots would eventually dominate as China's economy rocketed forward. So they pooled 500,000 yuan (roughly $70,000) and dove in headfirst.

Working on a shoestring budget, they set up shop in a small space at an industrial park for student entrepreneurs in Chengdu, the capital of southwestern China's Sichuan province. They started with robot controllers, grinding through the inevitable trials, failures, and pivots. Eventually, CRP's controllers carved out a market niche. But the founders realized that selling components alone wasn't a sustainable long-term strategy—they needed to build complete robots.

The decision to make that leap sparked intense internal debate. It meant abandoning their comfort zone and betting significant capital on a high-risk gamble that could easily sink the company. Fortunately for them, the gamble worked. CRP found its sweet spot in welding robots and has since secured four rounds of funding to fuel its expansion.

The Profit Rollercoaster

That profitability I mentioned earlier? It's a major selling point compared to money-losing competitors. But dig into the financials and you'll see those profits are anything but consistent. CRP's earnings plummeted from 28.27 million yuan in 2022 to just 1.69 million yuan in 2023. Then came 2024, when the company swung to a loss of 12.94 million yuan before bouncing back to profitability in the first half of 2025. That's not exactly the picture of stability investors typically crave.

The cash flow situation tells a similar story. Operating cash flow stood at a healthy positive 26.7 million yuan in 2022, then turned negative with outflows of 30.88 million yuan and 17.76 million yuan in 2023 and 2024, respectively. It only flipped positive again in the first half of this year, when the company recorded an inflow of 8.88 million yuan.

Adding to the uncertainty, the outlook for welding robots—which generate over half of CRP's revenue—isn't exactly screaming "growth story." China's welding robot market grew from 7 billion yuan in 2020 to 8.4 billion yuan last year, representing annual growth of just 4.4%, according to third-party data in the prospectus. The market is projected to expand from 9.3 billion yuan this year to 15.3 billion yuan in 2029, implying faster growth of 13.4% annually. Better, but not exactly explosive.

A Narrow Lead in a Crowded Field

Despite CRP's position as China's top welding robot manufacturer by revenue, its sales were hardly dominant at just 137 million yuan last year. The second and third-place players posted revenue of 128 million yuan and 120 million yuan, respectively. That's uncomfortably close—CRP could easily lose its top spot to a rival having a good quarter.

The competitive picture looks even tougher in metal and machining industrial robots, where CRP ranks third among Chinese players. With 156 million yuan in revenue for that segment last year, it trails far behind the top two competitors, which brought in 939 million yuan and 733 million yuan, respectively. Closing that gap won't be easy.

Valuation Reality Check

Among pure-play robotics companies listed in Hong Kong, Ubtech Robotics (9880.HK) reported revenue of 1.31 billion yuan last year and commands a price-to-sales ratio of 44 times. Geekplus Technology (2590.HK), with revenue of 2.4 billion yuan, trades at a more modest but still healthy P/S ratio of 12.3 times. CRP's revenue is dramatically smaller than both.

Even if you give CRP a generous 20 times P/S ratio—justified perhaps by its profitability and the current hot sentiment around robotics—that would still value the company at under HK$5 billion. That's well below the $1 billion threshold for coveted "unicorn" status.

So yes, China's robotics market is heating up, and investor enthusiasm is real. But for CRP, the challenge will be proving it can maintain its narrow lead, stabilize its financial performance, and justify the premium valuations that robotic stocks are commanding right now. The next decade might bring the blossoming Wang predicted—but CRP still needs to navigate some thorny competition first.