Unitree Technology (SSE: 688836) has agreed to establish a robotics joint venture with a manufacturing arm of China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), the parent company of PetroChina (HKEX: 0857; SSE: 601857). It is the robot maker's first major agreement with a state-owned partner since the United States labeled it a Chinese military company and moved to block its robots from the U.S. market.

According to a filing from the Beijing Administration for Market Regulation, Unitree has signed an agreement with CNPC and Beijing Fanjie Intelligent Technology to form the new robotics company. CNPC's Kunlun Manufacturing and its partner, Kunlun Capital, will hold 60% of the venture, while Unitree and Beijing Fanjie Intelligent Technology will each hold 20%, with all three parties sharing control.

The company has not yet completed its business registration, and its name and location have not been announced. The public comment period on the deal runs from November 4 to November 13.

Industrial focus

The venture will produce industrial robots equipped with built-in AI to carry out tasks in flammable and toxic environments that would be dangerous for humans. Target locations include oil and gas sites, refineries, storage facilities, emergency response operations, fuel and charging stations, and overseas projects.

Unitree already sells the B2-Ex, an explosion-proof four-legged robot designed for gas-gathering stations, production zones and chemical tank farms. The partnership could give the company access to live energy sites, where it can gather real-world operating data. That kind of access carries extra weight as the company's U.S. revenue share narrows.

Existing ties to CNPC capital

Kunlun Capital was a strategic investor in Unitree's Shanghai stock market debut, purchasing 903,290 shares, or 2.23% of the strategic placement. Unitree listed on August 19 and raised 6.1 billion yuan, about $900 million, with DeepSeek and a state oil giant also among the backers. The venture now takes that relationship further, moving the oil giant's involvement from an IPO allocation to the majority side of an industrial partnership.

US scrutiny

The Pentagon added Unitree to its 1260H list of companies it says support China's military on June 8, bringing the list to 188 names. On July 28, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) placed foreign-built advanced robots on its Covered List, a national security list the agency has previously used against Huawei and ZTE (SZSE: 000063; HKEX: 0763).

In December 2025, House Homeland Security Chairman Andrew Garbarino and Select Committee on China Chairman John Moolenaar sent a letter to the Pentagon asking it to classify Unitree, DeepSeek and others as Chinese military companies. The letter cited a Unitree robot dog fitted with a rifle that Chinese troops used during the “Golden Dragon 2024” drills with Cambodia.

In June, the same group introduced the GUARD Act, which would screen and possibly ban robots made by U.S. rivals. Moolenaar said Unitree and other Chinese robot makers were “cheating against American robot makers” with the help of state subsidies.

The FCC rule has already altered Unitree's position in the U.S. The company told investors that its six best-selling models passed FCC authorization before the rule took effect and can still be sold: the G1, H2 and R1 humanoids and the Go2, B2 and A2 four-legged robots. New models will be blocked unless they receive an exemption, Cryptopolitan reported. In practice, the rule pins the U.S. lineup to the six models already authorized.

Overseas sales accounted for more than 40% of Unitree's revenue in each reporting period, but the U.S. share fell to 13.3%. A venture controlled by a PetroChina parent company that also targets overseas growth gives U.S. critics a new target. The registration process, the November 13 close of the comment period and any movement on the GUARD Act are the next checkpoints for the company's domestic and overseas plans.