Unitree Robotics rose 460 percent in its Shanghai IPO, hitting a valuation of around $50 billion. But an FT report shows much of the demand for its robots comes from state-backed training centers that buy the machines and sell the resulting data back to the manufacturers, a circular business model that echoes the Nvidia criticism in the US.

Shares of Chinese humanoid robotmaker Unitree Robotics soared on their debut on Wednesday on the STAR Market of the Shanghai Stock Exchange. The shares surged 629.44 percent at…

Unitree’s shares soared more than 600% in its Shanghai debut, riding a wave of investor enthusiasm for AI-powered machines even as widespread commercial use remains years off