Shangwei New Materials loses 167m yuan in first half as Qiyuan robots take 210m yuan in pre-orders

Qiyuan, the consumer robotics brand of Shanghai-listed Shangwei New Materials (A-share code: 688585.SH), held a launch event in Shanghai on September 20 and began selling its Q1 and T1 “personal robots” on the same day. Both basic models are priced at 19,999 yuan (about HK$23,000). The Q1 Explorer version costs 26,999 yuan, while the T1 Pro is priced at 29,999 yuan. Deliveries will be made progressively from October 1 in order of purchase. Shangwei New Materials chief executive Tian Hua said the company aimed to become the “Apple” of the robotics industry, while acknowledging that the hardware itself was not profitable.

Companionship and entertainment come before household chores

The Q1 is 88cm tall and weighs about 15kg. It can be folded into a backpack and is aimed at appearance customisation and further development. The Explorer version also provides an SDK, HDK and hardware expansion interfaces. The T1 is about 100cm tall and can switch between wheeled-legged humanoid and quadruped configurations. It has a maximum payload of 3kg and supports follow-camera functions. According to reports, the T1 Pro is equipped with an Nvidia Orin Nano computing chip and omnidirectional obstacle avoidance in both configurations.

Tian told the media that household functions were not yet mature. Making household chores a selling point could easily lead to a high rate of returns, she said, so the company was initially focusing on companionship and interaction, while models for household applications remained under development.

In terms of pricing, The Daily Economic News reported that robots from Unitree Robotics and UBTECH generally start at more than 25,000 yuan (about HK$29,000). Songyan Power launched its “Xiaobumi” model last October at 9,998 yuan (about HK$11,000), putting Qiyuan’s pricing between the two groups.

Pivot after Zhiyuan takeover as first-half loss reaches 167m yuan

Shangwei New Materials was originally focused on environmentally friendly, high-performance corrosion-resistant materials, materials for wind turbine blades and advanced composite materials. It is listed on the STAR Market of the Shanghai Stock Exchange. In July 2025, Zhiyuan Robotics announced that it would take control through a combination of an agreement-based share transfer and a tender offer. The transaction had a maximum consideration of about 2.1 billion yuan (about HK$2.4 billion). The tender offer was completed in November of the same year, leaving Zhiyuan and parties acting in concert with a combined 63.62 per cent stake. Zhiyuan co-founder Peng Zhihui, also known online as “Zhihuijun”, became chairman, while Tian Hua was appointed chief executive. Some media reports have said that Qiyuan is responsible for expanding into the consumer market within the Zhiyuan group. Zhiyuan itself said on July 24 that it had begun preparations for a Hong Kong listing, but has not disclosed when it will file its application or the size of the planned fundraising.

Shangwei New Materials’ 2026 interim report showed first-half revenue of 803 million yuan (about HK$920 million), up 2.42 per cent year on year, and a net loss attributable to shareholders of 167 million yuan (about HK$190 million), compared with a profit in the same period last year. Research and development expenses rose to 180 million yuan (about HK$210 million), accounting for 22.46 per cent of revenue, compared with 2.74 per cent a year earlier. Consumer robotics accounted for 164 million yuan (about HK$190 million), or more than 90 per cent of the total. The company said the loss was mainly due to increased R&D investment. Gross margin for its principal business was 14.27 per cent, up 0.13 percentage points from the same period last year.

Net cash generated from operating activities was 208 million yuan (about HK$240 million), up 41.20 per cent year on year. The company attributed the increase mainly to continued cash inflows from its new materials business and 210 million yuan (about HK$240 million) in advance payments for robots. The advance payments have not yet been recognised as revenue. The company also said its robotics business remained at the R&D and application-scenario validation stage and had not yet entered mass production or sales.

Qiyuan said it expected to invest about 500 million yuan (about HK$580 million) in R&D in 2026, and pledged to invest 1 billion yuan (about HK$1.15 billion) in its “Star Ecosystem” developer programme over the next five years. A draft equity incentive plan announced on the same day as the interim report focused its company-level assessment on new businesses launched after the change in control. It requires new-business revenue to account for at least 25 per cent of total revenue in 2026, while year-on-year growth in new-business revenue must be at least 160 per cent in 2027 and 700 per cent in 2028.

Subscriptions and ecosystem: strategy set, charging model untested

Tian said robot revenue would come from three sources: sales of the robot units, subscriptions for content and applications, and supporting services. Hardware would serve merely as the entry point, she said. The Star Ecosystem has more than 1,000 developer partners involved in co-creation, with more than 100 new skills added each month, according to Qiyuan. The company did not disclose a specific subscription pricing plan in its launch-event materials.

Tian Feng, director of the Quick Thinking Slow Research Institute, told The Daily Economic News that Qiyuan’s skill store currently connects to applications including Himalaya, QQ Music and JD Health. Most of these are repurposed from existing channels and do not yet constitute a native ecosystem, he said. The ceiling for subscription revenue would depend on whether developers could provide services that only a robot platform could deliver. The key was whether leading developers could earn stable income through revenue sharing on skills, rather than the number of registered participants. Jiemian also noted that experience from mobile app ecosystems could not necessarily be replicated directly. Robot applications involved physical interaction, which could make development and adaptation more costly, while users’ willingness to pay for the ecosystem remained untested. Tian said developer engagement during the internal testing phase had exceeded expectations.

Four indicators to watch next

1. The cancellation rate after delivery, as well as user retention and engagement. Qiyuan’s internal benchmark is whether it can extend the average single-use session to 30 minutes, one hour and eventually two hours.
2. When the 210 million yuan in advance payments will be recognised as revenue, and whether Shangwei New Materials can meet the equity incentive plan’s target for the proportion of new-business revenue.
3. Actual downloads from the skill store and developers’ revenue-sharing income, rather than the number of participating partners.
4. The relationship between the principal business gross margin, which stood at 14.27 per cent in the first half, and operating cash flow on one hand, and the roughly 500 million yuan in annual robot R&D spending on the other.