Yushu Technology was selected for on-site inspection. With low R&D matching hard technology narratives, can the "counterintuitive" prospectus pass?

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Source | Nanfang Finance and Economics

Yushu Technology’s IPO got off to a bad start.

On April 1, the China Securities Industry Association released the list of on-site inspections for the second batch of 2026 first-issue companies. Yushu Technology and Zhongke Yuhang, which had both been accepted on March 20 and March 31 respectively, were selected.

Shanghai Stock Exchange information shows that both companies are STAR Market IPOs, with their sponsors being CITIC Securities and Guotai Huatong Securities respectively.

On-site IPO inspections are both a “firewall” to prevent companies from “rushing through the gate while sick,” and a “tightening spell” to press down on the responsibilities of market entities. They also help improve the quality of listed companies from the source.

For many years, IPO on-site inspections were once viewed by the market as a “death sentence.” From 2021 to 2024, the termination rates of inspected companies were 71.74%, 76.47%, 82.35%, and 50% respectively. Since 2025, although only Core Dense Technology has withdrawn, inspections have still significantly affected the pace of listings. That year, among 16 companies randomly selected for inspection, only 7 passed the review; the rest were still in line. By contrast, high-quality companies such as Moore submitted their applications and completed the entire process through registration in less than 200 days.

Yushu Technology, which claims “world No. 1 in global shipments of humanoid robots,” will it get through this on-site inspection and win regulatory endorsement—or will the brakes be pressed and it be put on hold?

1

Yushu’s prospectus is “counterintuitive”

Low R&D does not match the hard-tech narrative

Let’s look at the two companies selected for this round of on-site spot checks by the CSRC: one is a general-purpose robotics company aiming to become “China’s A-share No. 1 humanoid robot stock,” and the other is a private commercial space launch vehicle company racing to be “the first commercial aviation stock.” These are clearly two hard-tech companies, and also top players in their respective industry tracks. This time, they were both selected for on-site inspection at the same time—making netizens can’t help but remark that the CSRC’s “random” selection seems to have something behind it.

But this is not really surprising. Data show that in this year’s first quarter, there were only 11 newly accepted IPOs on the A-share market in total, of which 6 were on the STAR Market; the number of acceptances for other boards was never more than 3. The Shanghai Stock Exchange accepted none at all.

For companies applying for first issuance, the CSRC regularly carries out two types of on-site inspections: random selection and issue-oriented inspection. For newly accepted companies, about 20% are randomly selected to be inspected, to verify the quality of the application. Based on the proportion, exactly two companies were selected this time. Among the STAR Market—naturally the board with the most new acceptances—the chance of being selected is also the highest.

Among the 6 newly accepted STAR Market IPO companies, there are key core technology fields including medical devices (2: Aikou Medical, Saikesaisi), semiconductors (2: Suiyuan Technology, Xinhua Technology), commercial aerospace (1: Zhongke Yuhang), and robotics (1: Yushu Technology).

Among them, only Zhongke Yuhang and Suiyuan Technology have not achieved profitability, with negative net profits. While Yushu Technology’s prospectus shows impressive growth data for revenue and net profit, many other figures in the prospectus are also extremely “counterintuitive,” and have drawn extensive external doubts.

**For this kind of hard-tech company, high spending and high losses are the norm. But Yushu gives an answer of “low spending, high growth, and high profits.”  **

According to disclosures in the prospectus, Yushu humanoid robots have already reached the global No. 1 position in shipments, with 2025 revenue of 1.7 billion, non-recurring profit after deductions of 600 million, and a net profit margin as high as 35%. Although Yushu explains that it is entirely because it relies on full-stack self-developed and self-manufactured capabilities to bring prices down, and the price cuts also stimulate sales—thus achieving such high net profit.

But Yushu’s low R&D is also in conflict with its hard-tech narrative.

In the first three quarters of 2025, Yushu Technology’s advertising spending was only 22.57 million. Its explosive marketing for the 2025 Spring Festival Gala, in practice, did not cost much.

What’s even more surprising is that Yushu’s headcount and expenses for R&D are also not high.

Financial reports show that Yushu currently has 480 employees in total, including 175 R&D personnel, accounting for 36.46%, which is also not high.

The prospectus shows that as of the first three quarters of 2025, the company’s R&D expenses were 90.2094 million, accounting for 7.73% of revenue. Compared with listed peers such as UBTECH and Yuejiang, Yushu’s R&D expense ratio is far below the industry average level. Also, in the prior years 2022 to 2024, Yushu’s R&D investment was not substantial either, with cumulative R&D investment of only 150 million. Adding the first three quarters of 2025, by calculating to the fullest extent, over nearly 4 years the total R&D investment is still less than 300 million.

Meanwhile, for its peer UBTECH, R&D expenses alone were 478 million in 2024. Even though Yuejiang’s R&D investment was 71.79 million, its spending is still higher than Yushu’s.

Yushu’s prospectus attempts to show the outside world that its robot products are already capable of large-scale production and sales like consumer goods.

But the way the products are used in sales still leaves the outside world questioning whether the surge in robot sales is a one-off phenomenon.

Since last year, outsiders have consistently expressed doubt about the commercialization prospects of humanoid robots. Even the chairman of TSMC directly “fired shots” at robots represented by Yushu: “They jump around—useless. Just looks good.”

According to disclosures by Yushu, regarding its humanoid robots, which had the world’s No. 1 shipment volume last year, more than 70% came from ‘scientific research and education,’ supporting Yushu Technology’s humanoid robot sales volume. According to Yushu, the research and education segment mainly includes higher education institutions, research institutions, technology companies, and individual developers—used for scientific research, technology development, or secondary development purposes.

And regardless of whether it is a quadruped robot or a humanoid robot, their revenue performance in industry applications is the worst. Especially for humanoid robots, in industry applications their main form is enterprise tours, accounting for as high as 50% to 70%; the remaining share is things like intelligent manufacturing, intelligent inspection, and logistics and delivery, which account for 29.29% of industry applications.

2

CITIC Securities is both the sponsor and a shareholder

It sent 24 people to mentor Yushu’s IPO

Behind Yushu Technology’s IPO, there is a lineup of star-backed capital.

Tianyancha shows that Yushu Technology has gone through 10 rounds of financing in total. Industry giants such as Tencent, China Mobile, and Alibaba-affiliated capital, as well as Geely, are among its shareholders. Xiaomi, Meituan, Variable Capital, Sequoia Capital, Shenzhen Capital Operations Investment, China Guoxin Mobile, Source Code Capital, and G2 Venture Capital are also shareholders.

In September 2024, CITIC Securities also participated in Yushu Technology’s B+++ round of financing. In February 2024, Jingshi Growth Fund acquired a stake in Yushu Technology, and the fund’s executive affairs partner is CITIC Securities’ wholly owned subsidiary—Jingshi Investment Co., Ltd.

In other words, CITIC Securities is not only the sponsor of Yushu Technology, but also one of its shareholders.

When Yushu’s IPO tutoring/mentoring documents were disclosed last year, the end of the documents had a signature section showing as many as 24 CITIC Securities personnel serving as mentors/tutors, which also shocked and sparked heated discussions among netizens—at one point, some netizens jokingly referred to it as a “joint begging team.”

This kind of large team mentoring is not uncommon on the STAR Market. Guotai Huatong previously equipped Visionary Technology with a 33-person mentoring team. CICC and CITIC Construction Investment also sent 18 and 16 people respectively for Changxin Technology’s mentoring team. Since STAR Market companies often apply the fifth set of listing standards, with long business chains, many risk points, and a large amount of verification work, these “luxury” teams also reflect CITIC Securities’ high level of attention to this IPO.

On March 15, 2024, the CSRC issued the revised 《Provisions on On-site Inspections for Initial Public Offerings Companies》, aiming to further strengthen on-site inspections as a powerful regulatory tool and to guide intermediary institutions to improve the quality of their practice. Flight inspections drew attention. Under a strict regulatory posture, intermediaries also raised their standards for themselves, attaching greater importance to IPO verification. Otherwise, once problems arise, they may face penalties.

Whether for Yushu Technology or for CITIC Securities, this random selection is both a test and a “touchstone” to verify the authenticity of its financial reports and the quality of its practice.

Do you think Yushu Technology can smoothly pass the on-site inspection?