Zhiyuan's 2.1 Billion RMB Bid for Control: Why Did the Stock Surge 107% in Four Days?

In the past week, the robotics industry has been exceptionally turbulent, with the hottest event undoubtedly being "Zhiyuan Robotics' proposed takeover of Shangwei New Materials."

On the evening of July 8, Shangwei New Materials announced that Zhiyuan Robotics intends to obtain control of the company through a shareholding platform jointly established by the company and its core team, via agreement transfer and tender offer. Upon completion of this equity transaction, the controlling shareholder of Shangwei New Materials will change to Shanghai Zhiyuan Hengyue Technology Partnership (Limited Partnership) (hereinafter referred to as "Zhiyuan Hengyue"), in which Zhiyuan Robotics and its management team hold shares jointly, and the actual controller will change to Deng Taihua.

The announcement shows that the price for both the share transfer and the tender offer is 7.78 yuan per share, consistent with the stock price before suspension. Based on this calculation, if the tender offer is fully completed, the total value of the control transaction for Shangwei New Materials will be approximately 2.1 billion yuan at most.

Affected by the above announcement, Shangwei New Materials achieved four consecutive "20 cm" limit-ups after resuming trading. The stock price rose from 7.78 yuan per share before the announcement to 16.14 yuan per share on July 14, surging by 107% over four trading days, with a latest total market capitalization of 6.5 billion yuan.

Regarding the continuous rise in stock price, Shangwei New Materials specifically reminded that the current transaction still requires approval from the listed company's shareholders' meeting on relevant matters, as well as other approvals potentially required by laws and regulations, and must obtain compliance confirmation opinions from the Shanghai Stock Exchange and complete share transfer registration procedures at the Shanghai Branch of China Securities Depository and Clearing Corporation Limited. There is certain uncertainty regarding whether the relevant approval procedures will pass and when they will be completed. There is also uncertainty regarding whether the agreement transfer of shares can ultimately be completed.

This acquisition of shares in the listed company Shangwei New Materials is the largest investment made by Zhiyuan Robotics to date. Tianyancha information shows that Zhiyuan Robotics has direct external investments in 27 items and indirect investments in 57 items, covering other robotics companies and Embodied AI industry chain-related companies, including Linghou Robotics, Fuxing Motor, Annu Intelligent, Zhiding Robotics, etc. It is worth mentioning that not only does Zhiyuan Robotics have many external investments, but it has also undergone nine rounds of financing.

9 Rounds of Financing, Valuation Reaches 15 Billion Yuan

Public records show that Zhiyuan Robot was founded in February 2023. According to Tianyancha information, as of now, Zhiyuan Robot has completed nine rounds of financing, with a valuation reaching 15 billion yuan. Moreover, in its first year of establishment, Zhiyuan Robot密集ly secured five rounds of financing.

In March 2023, just one month after the company's founding, Zhiyuan Robot completed its seed round. This round was led by Hui Li Ventures, with Qiji Chuangtan participating jointly.

In April, Zhiyuan Robot launched its Series A and A+ financing rounds, with CDH Investments and GGV Capital providing joint funding.

In August, it completed its A++ round, with investors including BYD and BlueRun Ventures among others.

In December, it completed its A+++ round, raising over 600 million yuan. Well-known institutions such as BYD, Baidu Ventures (which participated in the A+ round), Sanhua Holdings, and Hui Li Ventures (which invested in the angel and Series A rounds and continued to add investment) joined the fray.

In 2024, Zhiyuan Robot completed two rounds of financing, in March and September respectively. Investors included Sequoia, SAIC Motor, and BlueRun Ventures.

In March 2025, Zhiyuan Robotics completed a financing round led by Tencent, with participation from various industrial investors and existing shareholders including Longqi Technology, Wolong Electric, Huafa Group, and BlueRun Ventures.

In May, JD.com and the Shanghai Embodied AI Fund participated in Zhiyuan Robotics' latest financing round, with existing shareholders such as Sequoia Capital, SAIC Capital, and TCL over-subscribing for additional shares.

On the product front, Zhiyuan has built a full-stack "body + AI" technology for robots, possessing capabilities in self-developing core components, system integration, and manufacturing. It independently trains an embodied foundation large model. Currently, it offers three major robot families—Yu Zheng, Jing Ling, and Ling Xi—covering various commercial scenarios including interactive services, industrial smart manufacturing, commercial logistics, and scientific research education.

In January this year, the 1,000th general-purpose embodied robot was rolled off the production line; the Lingxi X2, released in March, can already perform complex actions such as weightlifting and riding a bicycle; its newly released 'Nezha' robot Lingxi X2-N, launched in July, features a dual-form design that can freely switch between wheeled and legged modes.

Why did Zhiyuan's acquisition of Shangwei New Material shares ignite a capital market frenzy?

Actually, operations such as acquiring shares in listed companies are quite common in the capital market. So why did Zhiyuan's acquisition of Shangwei New Material shares trigger such a significant reaction?

First, the industry development is no longer comparable to before. This year, investment and financing enthusiasm in the robotics sector has reached unprecedented heights. According to statistics from Huaxin Capital, from January to July 2025, there were 158 investment and financing events in China's mainland robotics industry, occurring almost daily, with a total average amount exceeding 30 billion RMB, far surpassing the full-year figure of 2024.

According to Morgan Stanley's forecast, China's humanoid robot market is expected to expand rapidly at an annual rate of 63%, growing from $300 million this year to $3.4 billion by 2030. The report states that China is projected to have 252,000 humanoid robots by 2030, increasing to 302 million by 2050, accounting for 30% of the global total.

Morgan Stanley analysts stated that this year will be "a milestone year in the history of humanoid robots, marking the beginning of mass production."

Secondly, in terms of amount, Zhiyuan's proposed acquisition of shares in Shangwei New Materials for 2.1 billion yuan is also considered a significant deal in the robotics industry.

If successfully completed, this transaction is expected to become a landmark acquisition case for new-quality productive forces enterprises on the A-share market since the implementation of the new "Nine Guidelines" and "Six M&A Measures," and will also be the first acquisition case for an Embodied AI enterprise on the STAR Market. This move is also expected to provide reference and lessons for other robotics companies.