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.



Google Says 'Multiple' Cloud Services Suffer Network Failures in Europe

FILE PHOTO: A person takes a photo of the Google Cloud logo, during the 2025 Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Spain, March 4, 2025. REUTERS/Albert Gea/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A person takes a photo of the Google Cloud logo, during the 2025 Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Spain, March 4, 2025. REUTERS/Albert Gea/File Photo
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Google Says 'Multiple' Cloud Services Suffer Network Failures in Europe

FILE PHOTO: A person takes a photo of the Google Cloud logo, during the 2025 Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Spain, March 4, 2025. REUTERS/Albert Gea/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A person takes a photo of the Google Cloud logo, during the 2025 Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Spain, March 4, 2025. REUTERS/Albert Gea/File Photo

Multiple Google Cloud services were experiencing serious network disruptions at its European data center based in London on Tuesday, according to the US technology giant's service health website.

British digital bank Revolut said it is facing disruption to multiple services, which a source close to the matter attributed to the Google Cloud outage.

"Multiple Google Cloud services are experiencing elevated errors and intermittent network failures in europe-west2 region," Google said in a service update referring to its London data center.

Internet service tracker Downdetector indicated that hundreds of reports had been made of problems affecting UK lenders Lloyds bank and HSBC, as well as property website Rightmove and postal service Royal Mail.

Google said the incident began at 06:08 GMT on Tuesday, AFP reported.

A Revolut spokesperson said the bank was "working to fix the issue since it was identified" and offered its apologies "to anyone affected and for any inconvenience caused.”

"We can confirm that all our customers' money and data are safe," they added in a statement.

Google on its website said its "engineering team continues to investigate the issue" but gave no reason for the disruption caused.


Amazon to Invest Over €16 Billion in Germany Next Year

(FILES) The logo of US online retail giant Amazon is seen on the facade of a redistribution center in Horn-Bad Meinberg, western Germany, on December 9, 2024. (Photo by Ina FASSBENDER / AFP)
(FILES) The logo of US online retail giant Amazon is seen on the facade of a redistribution center in Horn-Bad Meinberg, western Germany, on December 9, 2024. (Photo by Ina FASSBENDER / AFP)
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Amazon to Invest Over €16 Billion in Germany Next Year

(FILES) The logo of US online retail giant Amazon is seen on the facade of a redistribution center in Horn-Bad Meinberg, western Germany, on December 9, 2024. (Photo by Ina FASSBENDER / AFP)
(FILES) The logo of US online retail giant Amazon is seen on the facade of a redistribution center in Horn-Bad Meinberg, western Germany, on December 9, 2024. (Photo by Ina FASSBENDER / AFP)

Amazon plans to invest more than €16 billion (about $18 billion) in Germany in 2027, the company said on Tuesday, to expand its cloud computing, AI, satellite internet and media businesses.

The investment is the e-commerce giant's latest move to grow its European operations as it races to expand cloud infrastructure ⁠across the region ⁠amid surging demand for AI services and growing competition among technology firms.

The package, announced at the Invest in Germany Summit in Berlin, adds to more ⁠than €100 billion Amazon says it has invested in the country since 2010.

The latest investment includes €4.8 billion to expand Amazon Web Services' Frankfurt cloud region and AI infrastructure.

It also includes new logistics projects expected to create more than 3,000 jobs, development of the Amazon Leo ⁠satellite broadband ⁠network, and new Prime Video productions.

Amazon also plans to open a second robotics and AI research lab in Berlin.

Tuesday's commitment follows a €10 billion investment announced in June 2024 to expand its cloud infrastructure and logistics network in Germany, including €8.8 billion for AWS data centers.


Micron Workers in Taiwan to Strike in Push for Bigger Profit Share

The newly opened Micron Advanced Assembly and Test Taiwan 2 (AATT2) facility in Taichung, Taiwan, October 15, 2026. REUTERS/Ann Wang
The newly opened Micron Advanced Assembly and Test Taiwan 2 (AATT2) facility in Taichung, Taiwan, October 15, 2026. REUTERS/Ann Wang
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Micron Workers in Taiwan to Strike in Push for Bigger Profit Share

The newly opened Micron Advanced Assembly and Test Taiwan 2 (AATT2) facility in Taichung, Taiwan, October 15, 2026. REUTERS/Ann Wang
The newly opened Micron Advanced Assembly and Test Taiwan 2 (AATT2) facility in Taichung, Taiwan, October 15, 2026. REUTERS/Ann Wang

Workers at a Micron Technology plant in Taiwan plan to strike on Thursday as they aim to pressure the US chip firm into proposing a "concrete profit-sharing plan," a labor union representing the employees said.

Huge global appetite for chips used in AI data centers has sent revenues soaring for firms that design, produce and assemble them but as their earnings skyrocket, workers are demanding a bigger cut of profits.

Monday's announcement came as Micron held talks over remuneration with two unions representing 12,000 of the 15,000 workers at its Taoyuan and Taichung plants.

The union representing hundreds of workers in Taoyuan said Thursday's strike would coincide with mediation talks with the company. It did not specify how long the strike could last.

"The strike aims to strengthen the union's position in mediation and urge Micron to put forward a concrete profit-sharing plan," the union said in a statement.

"We call on all Micron Taiwan Union members to stand together, fight together, and negotiate collectively," AFP quoted the union as saying.

"Through our actions, we will make our dissatisfaction with the current system heard and demonstrate our determination to establish a fair profit-sharing system."

In a statement, Micron said the company was "committed to constructive engagement with the Taoyuan and Taichung Unions to reach a solution that works for all parties."

The workers have the legal right to strike and stage picket lines after voting earlier this month in favor of action, the union said previously.

The unions are seeking a one-off bonus of 83 months' salary as well as a permanent system that allocates 15 percent of the company's operating profits to worker bonuses, distributed quarterly rather than annually.

Micron, which makes around 50-60 percent of its chips in Taiwan, said last month it would give the equivalent of up to 68 months of pay to staff but the one-off payment was rejected by workers.