AsianFin -- AgiBot Robotics is set to become the first embodied intelligence robotics company to gain a foothold on China’s STAR Market through a landmark reverse acquisition of Swancor Advanced Materials.
On Tuesday evening, Swancor announced that AgiBot, via an equity holding platform established with its core management team, will acquire control of the listed company by purchasing at least 63.62% of its shares through a combination of agreement-based transfers and a tender offer. The total transaction is valued at approximately 2.1 billion yuan, or around $290 million.
Following the transaction, Swancor’s controlling shareholder will shift to Shanghai AgiBot Hengyue Technology Partnership. AgiBot’s founder and CEO Deng Taihua, a former Huawei executive, will become the actual controller of the listed company. Peng Zhihui, known online as “Zhi Hui Jun” and a former Huawei “genius youth,” is also expected to take a key leadership role. The move positions AgiBot to beat rival Unitree Robotics to become the first embodied intelligence company to effectively list on the STAR Market, even though the transaction does not constitute a traditional IPO.
AgiBot and its affiliated entity AgiBot Xinchuang will acquire 29.99% of Swancor’s shares through negotiated transfers and intend to purchase an additional 37% through a partial tender offer.
Swancor’s largest shareholder, SWANCOR Samoa, has committed to tendering its 135 million unrestricted shares, equivalent to 33.63% of total equity. The agreed price of 7.78 yuan per share matches Swancor’s pre-suspension closing price. Trading in Swancor’s shares will resume on July 9.
AgiBot Robotics emphasized that the acquisition is not a backdoor listing under current Chinese capital market regulations. Deng Taihua has pledged to maintain control of the company for at least 36 months, in accordance with regulatory guidelines. The takeover also aligns with China’s broader push to accelerate industrial upgrades and support technological innovation within its A-share market framework.
Swancor, listed in 2020, specializes in anti-corrosion and composite materials for wind turbines and circular economy applications. The company generated 1.49 billion yuan in revenue in 2024, up 6.7% year-on-year, and posted a 25% jump in net profit to 88.7 million yuan. The shift from advanced materials to AI robotics signals a major strategic redirection, as embodied intelligence continues to draw investor attention and national policy support.
Founded in February 2023, AgiBot Robotics has quickly become a standout in China’s AI hardware ecosystem. The company develops full-stack robotics systems and its own large-scale embodied foundation models. Its robot lines—Yuan Zheng, Jing Ling, and Ling Xi—serve diverse use cases across interactive services, industrial automation, logistics, and education. In July, AgiBot launched its latest robot, Lingxi X2-N, featuring a dual-mode design that can switch between wheeled and legged movement.
AgiBot has attracted backing from a powerful roster of investors, including Tencent, JD.com, Sequoia China, Hillhouse, SAIC Capital, BYD, and others. In 2024 and 2025, the company closed multiple funding rounds, including one led by Tencent in March and another led by JD.com in May. The company also unveiled its Qiyuan embodied foundation model in March, enabling robots to learn from human videos, generalize from small datasets, and evolve through real-world deployment.
The acquisition comes amid a broader boom in China’s embodied intelligence and robotics sector. In the past month alone, several startups have secured major rounds of financing. On July 8, TARS raised $122 million in an Angel+ round. On July 7, Xingdong Jiyuan, a Tsinghua University spin-off, completed a 500 million yuan Series A. Galaxy Universal raised 1.1 billion yuan in June, pushing its valuation beyond $1 billion. Unitree, Swancor’s closest rival, recently completed Series C financing and is reportedly preparing for an IPO.
According to Statista, the global AI robotics market is expected to exceed $1.9 billion in 2024, with China accounting for roughly 40% of the total. Morgan Stanley projects China’s robotics market will grow at a 23% compound annual rate from $47 billion in 2024 to $108 billion by 2028. By 2050, the global humanoid robot market could reach $7 trillion, with 650 million humanoid robots in service.
While the sector is still marked by high R&D costs and early-stage losses, investors are betting that embodied intelligence will reshape manufacturing, logistics, healthcare, and domestic life. The China Academy of Information and Communications Technology forecasts that general-purpose humanoid robots will reach large-scale deployment between 2040 and 2045, creating a domestic market worth up to 1 trillion yuan.
For now, AgiBot’s bold move may prove to be the defining moment for China’s humanoid robotics sector. As one investor put it, this isn’t just about getting listed—it’s about taking control of the future.
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