XPeng's Robots Sold Zero. Now They're Worth $6.3 Billion

XPeng's robotics unit has raised more than €780 million at a valuation above €5.5 billion, and it has not sold a single humanoid robot. XPeng as a whole is worth about €9.5 billion on the stock market, which leaves a car business that delivered 103,295 cars last quarter valued at less than its robots. On 24 August, alongside its second-quarter results, XPeng announced a round led by IDG Capital, with Gaorong Ventures, Tencent and Alibaba joining. Outside investors put in about €520 million and XPeng and its management added about €260 million of their own, in what XPeng calls the largest single private round in China's embodied AI industry. This story explains why some of China's most experienced tech investors are paying for robots that have not shipped. In this story from The Robot Bureau, Lei walks through what the investors see in a robot business with no sales. XPeng's robots go back to a Shenzhen robot-dog team founded in 2016, which He Xiaopeng backed in 2020 and whose founder later left to start EngineAI. The Iron humanoid followed in November 2024. Meanwhile AgiBot shipped 5,168 humanoids in 2025 and about 8,400 in the first half of 2026, with Unitree and UBTech behind it. IDG says the industry is moving from technical breakthroughs to scalable manufacturing, and XPeng already builds more than 100,000 complex machines a quarter. A car is a robot on wheels, and XPeng knows how to make those at scale. Gaorong Ventures adds a second bet, calling Iron a gateway to real-world data that feeds a production, data, model and deployment flywheel. Car makers everywhere are making the same move. Tesla has Optimus, Hyundai owns Boston Dynamics, BMW works with Figure and Mercedes with Apptronik, and in China BYD, Chery, Geely and Xiaomi are building robots too. So far, Europe's car makers mostly take part as customers and partners of other people's robots. Rogier and Lei cover: why the robots are valued higher than the cars, the backstory that links XPeng to EngineAI, who really ships humanoids in China, why every car maker wants a robot unit, and whether this is a bubble. Verdict: in the running for the front page. Rogier liked it because money sells magazines, Lei backed Serbia, and the cover ended in a tie. On the bubble, Rogier says yes and Lei says ask her next year. Chapters: 00:00 Zero robots, a €5.5 billion valuation 00:46 XPeng's record robot funding round 01:54 €260 million from XPeng and its management 02:32 Chasing Tesla's Optimus 03:06 Robots worth more than the cars 05:01 How a car maker ends up building robots 06:16 The founder who left to start EngineAI 08:12 Who actually ships humanoids in China 09:37 What IDG is betting on 10:49 Why car makers lead the humanoid race 11:31 Gaorong's data flywheel 12:38 Bubble or not This is story 2 of 6 from episode 1 of The Robot Bureau. Watch the full episode:    • He Became China's Richest Person Under 40....   Attend Humanoid Europe 2026 on November 5-6 in Munich, Germany: https://humanoideurope2026.com/go/so-... *** Subscribe to our channel for insider perspectives on Physical AI and Robotics. Follow The Robot Bureau • LinkedIn:   / the-robot-bureau   • The Robot Bureau host Lei Li:   / leilibeyondthenow   • The Robot Bureau host Rogier Bikker:   / rogierbikker   #xpeng #humanoidrobots #physicalai