--- title: "China's Flagship Robot Maker Sold 13,676 Units in 2025 — and Lost Money" date: 2026-10-08 category: Humanoids & Robotics site: NeuroAI canonical: https://neuroai.site/a/na-robot-siasun-industrial-robots language: en --- # China's Flagship Robot Maker Sold 13,676 Units in 2025 — and Lost Money > Siasun, one of China's oldest robot companies, shipped 13,676 robots in 2025 but posted a RMB 398 million net loss — a sobering look at what 'selling more' really buys in robotics. A factory in Liaoning rolls 13,676 robots out the door in a single year — a 65% jump over the year before. The same company's profit statement, however, tells the opposite story: it lost more money than ever. China's most established robot maker has run straight into a paradox the whole industry would rather not discuss. Siasun Robotics (新松机器人), founded in 2000 and listed on the Shenzhen ChiNext board under ticker *300024*, is the kind of company China's robotics story is supposed to celebrate: two decades old, deeply embedded in automotive, lithium-battery, semiconductor and transit supply chains, and a holder of more than 1,900 patents. Its 2025 annual report, filed with the exchange, lays out the contradiction in plain numbers. ## The paradox in the numbers Siasun's 2025 revenue came to **RMB 4.122 billion (about $581 million / HK$4.49 billion)**, down a marginal 0.40% year-on-year. Its net profit attributable to shareholders was **-RMB 398 million (roughly -$56 million / -HK$434 million)** — an exact figure of -397,880,934.47 yuan disclosed in the board resolution. The loss widened 105% versus 2024. And yet unit volume surged: **about 13,676 robots sold in 2025, up 65%**. Gross margin sat at **12.48%**, down about 2.14 percentage points. In other words, Siasun sold far more machines and earned less money doing it — the "sell more, lose more" trap that haunts capital-intensive manufacturing when prices compress faster than costs. ## Where the money goes The report breaks revenue into segments, and only one grew. *Automation assembly, inspection lines and system integration* rose 16.27% to **RMB 1.493 billion (around $210 million / HK$1.63 billion)** and was the single pillar (支撑) of 2025 revenue. Everything else slipped: *industrial robots and integration* fell 8.77% to **RMB 1.097 billion (about $155 million / HK$1.20 billion)**; *logistics and warehouse automation* dropped 6.66% to **RMB 734 million (roughly $103 million / HK$800 million)**; *transit automation* fell 7.27% to **RMB 261 million (about $37 million / HK$284 million)**; and *semiconductor equipment* declined 8.58% to **RMB 525 million (around $74 million / HK$572 million)**. The company attributed the squeeze to three forces: intensifying domestic competition, a weaker dollar late in the year that trimmed margins on U.S.-settled overseas work, and losses at associated companies counted by the equity method. Research spend held at about **RMB 364 million (around $51 million / HK$397 million)**, 8.84% of revenue — a level Siasun argues is necessary but which, combined with falling margins, deepened the red ink. ## Why 'selling more, losing more' happens Siasun is not a startup burning venture cash; it is a profitable-era company sliding backward. The 2023–2025 arc is stark: revenue of RMB 3.967 billion, RMB 4.138 billion and RMB 4.122 billion, against net profit of RMB 49 million, -RMB 194 million and -RMB 398 million. The first quarter of 2026 offered no relief — revenue **RMB 630 million (about $89 million / HK$687 million)**, down 8.42%, with a **-RMB 93 million (roughly -$13 million / -HK$101 million)** net loss. The root issue is structural. Large automation projects carry long build, install and acceptance cycles, so revenue recognition lags. High inventory — about RMB 3.09 billion on the books — ties up cash and invites write-downs. And as new entrants flood robotics, price competition erodes the very margins that once made scale pay. Siasun's own line is that it is shifting from project-based integration toward standardized, productized robots; the 65% volume jump suggests the product push is working on quantity, not yet on margin. ## The pivot to embodied AI Even a company this rooted in industrial automation is now chasing *embodied AI (具身智能)*. Siasun set up an embodied-intelligence institute in April 2025, showed a wheeled humanoid called *SongYi (松羿)* at the Global Industrial Internet Conference in July 2025, and by December 2025 had a half-body dual-arm humanoid in production-line verification. At the World Robot Conference in August 2026 it released *OneHub (羿枢)*; the SongYi "power" version carries a 15 kg dual-arm load with a 0–1.8 meter working height. Whether a legacy integrator can win the embodied-AI race against venture-backed specialists is an open question. Siasun's edge is claimed to be its decades of industrial-site data and field understanding — but turning that into a shippable humanoid is a different discipline from shipping an AGV. ## Honest limitations Every financial figure here — RMB 4.122 billion revenue, -RMB 398 million net loss (exact -397,880,934.47 yuan), 12.48% gross margin, 13,676 units (+65%), segment revenues, RMB 364 million R&D, and the Q1 2026 numbers — is drawn directly from Siasun's 2025 annual report and board resolutions filed with the Shenzhen Stock Exchange (szse.cn / cninfo.com.cn) and reported by China Business News and others. They are audited company filings, not estimates. The overseas share (~14.19%), 40-plus export countries, 4,000-plus customers and 45% Fortune 500 claim, and the patent count (>1,900, >1,400 inventions), are from a compiled corporate profile and should be read as company-stated. The embodied-AI product timeline (institute April 2025, SongYi July 2025, OneHub August 2026) is also company-disclosed. The "sell more, lose more" framing is an editorial reading of those audited numbers, not the company's own wording. ## What readers can do now - When a robotics company touts "unit shipments up 65%," check the margin line before cheering — Siasun shows volume growth and profit decline can happen at once. - For investors, favor robotics firms that disclose audited gross margin and net profit, not just funding or demo videos; exchange filings (like Siasun's) are the harder, more honest source. - Track whether legacy robot makers can actually ship embodied-AI humanoids at scale — the 2026 product launches are promises, and the 2025 financials are the reality check. --- Published by NeuroAI (https://neuroai.site/) — https://neuroai.site/a/na-robot-siasun-industrial-robots Free to quote with attribution and a link to the original.