Hangjiashuo Robotics Insights
As UBTECH Robotics' Liuzhou factory races toward a 10,000-unit capacity at a pace of "one unit rolled off the line every 10 minutes," another robot production base with a total investment of CNY 500 million has quietly broken ground in Wuxi. The two are taking two distinctly different paths.
Recently, the Zerith Yangtze River Delta production base, with a total investment of CNY 500 million, has officially commenced construction in the Fosun Humanoid Robot Industrial Park in Binhu, Wuxi. Zhao Qiang, Secretary of the District Party Committee, and Min Yuheng, Founder and Chairman of Zerith, jointly unveiled the plaque for the base. Covering a total construction area of 4,800 square meters, the production base is planned to include multiple functional spaces such as production workshops, testing areas, R&D offices, and exhibition areas. Positioned as the central hub for the production, assembly, and delivery of Zerith, it fills the critical gap in complete machine manufacturing within Binhu's humanoid robot industry chain.
The founding team of Zerith originates from the Intelligent Robot Laboratory of the Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School. The company has now established a multi-location collaborative layout, including its headquarters in Hefei and an R&D center in Shenzhen. Its customers and partners cover leading enterprises such as Lens Technology, Luxshare Precision, Huawei Cloud, Tencent Cloud, Ant Group, JD.com, and CR Vanguard.
From signing at the 2026 World AI (Artificial Intelligence) Conference to the official groundbreaking and landing of the project, it took less than two months. With numerous cities to choose from in the East China region, the final decision to settle in Binhu was driven by its complete industry chain, high-quality talent ecosystem, and a business environment where "every matter receives a response and every task is properly implemented."
In terms of product strategy, the Zerith Yangtze River Delta base targets two clear tracks: humanoid robot equipment and AI unmanned retail.
Its independently developed ZERITH-H1 wheeled humanoid robot features 23 degrees of freedom, equipped with a 3D multimodal perception system and an embodied AI large model. It can accurately identify the environment and goods, understand complex instructions, and complete grasping and delivery tasks.
Building on this product, Zerith has launched the "Shaomai Go" AI retail cabin. Adopting a container-style standardized design, it requires no ground hardening or utility modifications, making it ready to use immediately upon placement. It can rapidly activate fragmented spaces such as scenic areas, city blocks, and industrial parks. Field test data shows that the peak daily orders for a single store reached 1,103, with a weekly fulfillment success rate as high as 99.5%. Currently, Zerith's monthly production capacity has exceeded 100 units. The order amount in 2025 exceeded CNY 100 million, with an order target of CNY 200 million for 2026. The company has completed four rounds of financing, with a total financing amount of approximately CNY 300 million. According to the plan, Zerith's robot mini-stores are scheduled to land 500 units this year and reach 2,000 units next year.
Comparison with UBTECH's Liuzhou Base: Two Paths, One Direction
The official commencement of production at UBTECH's Liuzhou Super Smart Factory for industrial humanoid robots has attracted widespread attention across the internet. It is positioned as the world's first benchmark smart manufacturing factory for humanoid robots adapted for a 10,000-unit capacity.
In terms of production capacity scale, the gap between the two is huge. Covering an area of 14,000 square meters, UBTECH's Liuzhou factory can roll off one industrial humanoid robot every 10 minutes according to the production line design cycle, with an annual planned capacity of over 10,000 units. It mainly produces the Walker S series and Cruzr series embodied intelligence industrial humanoid robots. In contrast, the planned construction area of Zerith's Yangtze River Delta base is 4,800 square meters. Upon reaching full capacity, its monthly production capacity will further increase based on the existing 100 units, but the overall scale is still in the transition stage from the "hundred-unit level" to the "thousand-unit level."
In terms of business models, the two have taken distinctly different paths. Relying on industrial simulation systems and the global scheduling of a digital "smart brain," UBTECH's Liuzhou factory focuses on the smart manufacturing model of "using robots to build robots," and has jointly built a dedicated digital smart manufacturing foundation for humanoid robots with Siemens. Its products are mainly aimed at industrial scenarios and have been put into use in workstations such as material handling, sorting, and quality inspection at automakers like Dongfeng Liuzhou Automobile. On the other hand, Zerith's business model leans more towards "asset-light and fast landing." Using unmanned retail mini-stores as carriers, it pushes robots into consumption scenarios such as scenic areas, commercial districts, and transportation hubs, feeding back data from real scenarios to algorithm iteration.
In terms of strategic positioning, the two also have their respective focuses. UBTECH's Liuzhou base focuses on the differentiated path of "R&D in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou + integration in Guangxi + application in ASEAN," striving to build an innovation demonstration highland for humanoid robots facing ASEAN. Zerith's Yangtze River Delta base, however, focuses on filling the critical gap in complete machine manufacturing within Binhu's industry chain, while simultaneously opening up the integration path of "industrial smart manufacturing + smart new retail."
Overall, what UBTECH is building in Liuzhou is a large factory facing industrial production lines, pursuing scale and efficiency; what Zerith is building in the Yangtze River Delta is a more flexible production and delivery base, first placing robots in daily scenarios such as retail, scenic areas, and parks, allowing them to work in real environments.
These two paths may look different, but they are actually answering the same question: Can robots step out of the laboratory and become truly useful tools? The large factory proves that they can be mass-manufactured, while the mini-stores prove that they can be used by ordinary people. One solidifies manufacturing capabilities, and the other expands application scenarios. As long as such attempts continue to accumulate, humanoid robots will not just stay on exhibition stands, but will gradually enter factory workshops, street-side shops, and the lives of ordinary people. Only then will the true significance of these bases and factories today be fully realized.
This article is compiled based on publicly available network information and is for reference only, not constituting investment advice.