China’s Unitree Unveils ‘Superman’ Robot as Fervor Builds Ahead of Shanghai Debut

Children stand near Unitree's humanoid robots on display at a Unitree store in Beijing, China August 10, 2026. (Reuters)
Children stand near Unitree's humanoid robots on display at a Unitree store in Beijing, China August 10, 2026. (Reuters)
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China’s Unitree Unveils ‘Superman’ Robot as Fervor Builds Ahead of Shanghai Debut

Children stand near Unitree's humanoid robots on display at a Unitree store in Beijing, China August 10, 2026. (Reuters)
Children stand near Unitree's humanoid robots on display at a Unitree store in Beijing, China August 10, 2026. (Reuters)

China's Unitree unveiled a new high-speed robot it dubbed "Superman" on Monday, days before becoming the first general-purpose robotics company to list on mainland China's stock market.

Unitree, the world's biggest humanoid-robot maker by sales, will start trading in Shanghai on Wednesday after raising 6.1 billion yuan ($905 ‌million) in ‌an initial public offering last week.

The company, based ‌in ⁠the eastern Chinese ⁠tech hub of Hangzhou, said it developed the new robot in just over three months. It achieved a standing jump of 2 meters and reached a top speed of 12.66 meters per second.

The Shanghai debut coincides with the opening of the World Robot Conference in Beijing, adding to investor attention ⁠on a company whose humanoid robots have drawn ‌global notice for running, dancing and ‌performing martial arts.

The IPO was more than 8,000 times oversubscribed ‌by retail investors, a record for Shanghai's tech-focused STAR Market.

In ‌a social media post last week, Unitree said it had cumulatively produced and delivered about 18,000 bipedal humanoid robots across multiple models as of July.

DERIVATIVES MARKET POINTS TO STRONG DEBUT

Unitree said the robot ‌remained a work in progress and could be improved further in coming months.

Founder Wang Xingxing ⁠gained national ⁠prominence after securing a front-row seat at a summit hosted by Chinese President Xi Jinping for leading technology entrepreneurs last year.

The startup is also backed by some of China's most influential technology companies including Tencent, Alibaba, and DeepSeek.

Ahead of Unitree's Shanghai listing, derivative trading in offshore markets has pointed to a strong debut.

Its shares may also benefit from a broader recovery in Chinese technology stocks following last month's selloff.

The STAR50 Index has rebounded about 15% from a three-month low hit in early August.



Nvidia to Invest $1.5 billion in SB Energy under OpenAI Data Center Deal

FILE PHOTO: Nvidia logo is seen in this illustration taken June 11, 2026. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Nvidia logo is seen in this illustration taken June 11, 2026. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
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Nvidia to Invest $1.5 billion in SB Energy under OpenAI Data Center Deal

FILE PHOTO: Nvidia logo is seen in this illustration taken June 11, 2026. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Nvidia logo is seen in this illustration taken June 11, 2026. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

Nvidia will invest $1.5 billion in SoftBank-backed SB Energy and secure up to 8 gigawatts of AI computing capacity at an Ohio campus being built by the data center developer for OpenAI.

The deal is the latest where Nvidia is financing the ecosystem consuming its chips, a strategy that has helped fuel demand but also drawn scrutiny over the circular flows of funds from the chipmaker to its biggest customers, Reuters reported.

Leading tech firms are increasingly tying together chips, power and data center development as they race to secure the infrastructure needed for increasingly power-hungry AI models.

Chip giant Nvidia has secured land and power at Ohio's PORTS-Pike Technology Campus for an AI data center that will use its graphics processors and networking gear, with an initial capacity of 4.25 GW.

SB Energy and SoftBank plan to build at least 10 GW of new power generation and invest $4.2 billion in Ohio grid infrastructure to support AI data centers.

Also backed by OpenAI, SB Energy develops large-scale power and data center infrastructure projects. Founded in 2019, the company is building several data center campuses to support rising demand tied to AI workloads.


German Regulator: Apple to Change App Data Consent Rules

FILE PHOTO: People walk past a booth showcasing Apple's suppliers during the China International Supply Chain Expo (CISCE) in Beijing, China June 22, 2026. REUTERS/Florence Lo/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: People walk past a booth showcasing Apple's suppliers during the China International Supply Chain Expo (CISCE) in Beijing, China June 22, 2026. REUTERS/Florence Lo/File Photo
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German Regulator: Apple to Change App Data Consent Rules

FILE PHOTO: People walk past a booth showcasing Apple's suppliers during the China International Supply Chain Expo (CISCE) in Beijing, China June 22, 2026. REUTERS/Florence Lo/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: People walk past a booth showcasing Apple's suppliers during the China International Supply Chain Expo (CISCE) in Beijing, China June 22, 2026. REUTERS/Florence Lo/File Photo

Apple will change rules governing how app developers can use personal data for targeted advertising on iPhones and iPads, Germany's competition authority said on Monday, closing a years-long investigation.

The Federal Cartel Office found that Apple's App Tracking Transparency framework gave its own apps more favorable consent prompts than those of third-party developers, potentially breaching competition rules.

Apple has four ⁠months to implement ⁠the changes after the decision is served. Commitments run for seven years and will be monitored by a trustee.

Under the commitments, consent pop-ups for third-party apps must be redesigned ⁠to remove discouraging language and symbols, and made visually and linguistically neutral.

Third-party app publishers will also gain more flexibility to combine Apple's required consent request with separate data-protection consent prompts.

According to Reuters, Apple said the changes would apply in almost all European Union countries and that it had adapted the text and design of the ⁠consent ⁠prompt at the authority's request.

Developers of third-party apps, including Facebook parent Meta Platforms, aim for accurate user data so that targeted adverts can be displayed on devices. These generate more revenue than broader campaigns.

France and Italy have already fined Apple €150 million and €98.6 million, respectively, over the ATT framework.


AI Market Correction is Coming, ECB Blog Predicts

FILE PHOTO: European Union flags flutter outside the European Central Bank (ECB) headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany, March 19, 2026. REUTERS/Jana Rodenbusch/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: European Union flags flutter outside the European Central Bank (ECB) headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany, March 19, 2026. REUTERS/Jana Rodenbusch/File Photo
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AI Market Correction is Coming, ECB Blog Predicts

FILE PHOTO: European Union flags flutter outside the European Central Bank (ECB) headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany, March 19, 2026. REUTERS/Jana Rodenbusch/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: European Union flags flutter outside the European Central Bank (ECB) headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany, March 19, 2026. REUTERS/Jana Rodenbusch/File Photo

A market correction to tech stock exuberance in the US is likely and could have far-reaching consequences due to limits in fiscal and monetary policy buffers to blunt the potential economic hit, a European Central Bank blog post said on Monday.

Investors have been piling into technology stocks on bets that AI will fundamentally alter the global economy, and valuations for top tech companies are now far above historic averages.

"Economic research on past technological revolutions points to a worrisome conclusion: a correction of current stock market valuations is likely," said ⁠the blog post, ⁠which does not necessarily reflect the ECB's opinion.

Even if the technology succeeds and profits rise, stocks may still fall because it is hard to fulfil markets' excessively optimistic profit growth bets, the post added.

Psychological trends also point to a correction, ⁠the blog argued. Overly optimistic investors tend to bid up prices beyond fundamentals. Then when optimism fades, prices tend to fall even more sharply than in the rational scenario, the post said.

For Europe, a US market correction would be a question of financial stability since households have a €440 billion exposure to so-called Magnificent Seven stocks - Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Nvidia and Tesla -while pension and insurance firms' exposure is about the same.

"The more severe ⁠scenario is ⁠not the equity correction on its own but a correction that coincides with broader market instability that policymakers cannot easily calm: unlike in the dot-com episode, today's starting point leaves markedly less room to cut interest rates or use fiscal policy to cushion the fallout," Reuters quoted the blog as saying.

While European stock valuations appear more rational, market moves closely correlate with the US, so local equities will also take a hit, the blog said, adding that the exact timing of the correction "is unknowable in advance".

"These boom-bust patterns are only identifiable with hindsight," it said.