By Li Jiaxuan
As of the end of August, several publicly listed robotics companies have disclosed their semi-annual reports for 2025. From the financial data, for a number of robotics companies represented by Geek+ (极智嘉), UBTECH (优必选), and UFactory (越疆科技), the overseas market is no longer just an added bonus, but rather the main battleground that determines the survival of robotics companies. Globalization has become a key driving force for corporate development, accompanied by severe challenges.
▎Geek+
In its first financial report season after going public, the high revenue share and gross margin from the overseas market became the biggest highlight of Geek+’s mid-term performance. During the reporting period, Geek+ achieved a revenue growth of 31.0% year-on-year to RMB 1.025 billion, with gross profit increasing by 43.1% year-on-year to RMB 360 million, and gross margin rising to 35.1%. Notably, the revenue from outside mainland China accounted for as much as 79.5%, becoming the absolute main force behind its revenue growth. This data not only reflects Geek+’s extensive penetration in the global market but also highlights the advantages of its localized operations and service network.
As of June 30, 2025, Geek+ has delivered over 66,000 robots to more than 40 countries and regions worldwide, establishing a global business system covering 52 service points, 12 spare parts centers, and over 310 engineers. The gross margin in non-mainland China markets reached 46.2%, far exceeding the overall level, indicating that the overseas market not only contributes scale but also brings higher profit quality.
▎UBTECH
As the “first stock of humanoid robots”, UBTECH’s performance in the first half of 2025 also highlights the importance of the overseas market. The company reported revenue of RMB 621 million, a year-on-year increase of 27.5%, with overseas revenue of RMB 209 million, a year-on-year increase of 29.0%, accounting for 33.6% of total revenue. Although the domestic market accounts for 66.4% and remains the main source of income, the overseas growth rate exceeds that of the domestic market, showing good growth potential.
From the business composition, the overseas market has brought growth to UBTECH’s three segments: “consumer robots and other hardware devices”, “education business”, and “logistics business”, with particularly significant growth in the “consumer robots and other hardware devices” segment. During the reporting period, this segment achieved revenue of RMB 260 million, a year-on-year increase of 48.9%, becoming the core engine of revenue growth. This growth is mainly attributed to the launch of new products such as smart pool cleaners, lawn mowers, and cat litter boxes, as well as the expansion of overseas channels to large brand customers in Europe and Australia. Meanwhile, the education business has covered events in Malaysia, Russia, and other regions, and the logistics business has successfully entered the airport scene in Singapore.
However, UBTECH also faces profitability challenges: the net profit was -RMB 414 million, and the gross margin decreased by 3 percentage points year-on-year to 35.0%, with R&D expenses accounting for as much as 35.1%. Despite the impressive growth rate in the overseas market, how to achieve a balance between high investment and profitability remains a key issue that its globalization strategy needs to address.
▎UFactory
In the first half of 2025, UFactory reported revenue of RMB 153 million, a year-on-year increase of 27.1%, with a gross margin of 47.0%, up 3.1% year-on-year. Despite the overall positive performance, its overseas market performance remains under pressure. The overseas market (including Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan) generated revenue of RMB 80.146 million, a year-on-year increase of 8.4%, significantly lower than the domestic market’s growth rate of 56.7%. More concerning is that UFactory’s overseas revenue as a percentage of total revenue dropped from 61.3% in the first half of 2024 to 52.4% in the first half of 2025, while the domestic revenue share correspondingly increased to 47.6%.
The decline in the proportion of overseas business and the slower-than-expected growth rate indicate that UFactory faces multiple obstacles in its internationalization process. The company admits that uncertainties in international trade policies and tariffs, as well as the unsatisfactory effects of localized operations, have led to restricted product access, weakened pricing power, and slow market penetration. Additionally, UFactory’s sales and distribution expenses increased by 31.5% year-on-year, exceeding revenue growth, mainly due to global channel expansion and increased marketing investment, but this does not match the 8.4% growth in overseas revenue. This also reveals a pain point for some robotics companies going global: how to balance investment and output under changing tariff policies and market conditions to achieve sustainable growth in overseas markets.
In summary, the financial reports of the three companies indicate that the overseas market is crucial for robotics companies. The overseas market contributes significant revenue: nearly 80% of Geek+’s revenue comes from overseas, UBTECH’s overseas revenue accounts for more than one-third, and UFactory’s overseas revenue exceeds half. The overseas market has become an important support for corporate growth. Furthermore, the profitability quality of the overseas market is higher, with Geek+’s overseas gross margin reaching 46.2% and UFactory’s overall gross margin at 47.0%, both above the industry average, indicating that the overseas market has stronger pricing power.
Geek+, UBTECH, and UFactory collectively depict three typical scenarios of robotics companies going global. Although the paths differ, they show an industry trend of robotics companies actively seeking growth in overseas markets. In the future, as the demand for global intelligent manufacturing, smart logistics, and consumer robots continues to explode, competition in the overseas market will become even more intense. The challenges faced by robotics companies in overseas markets cannot be ignored either; to address issues such as policy and trade barriers, difficulties in localized operations, and imbalances between costs and profits, companies need to find a balance between product innovation, channel development, localized operations, and cost control to truly benefit from globalization.
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