Leju Robotics inaugurates Foshan factory producing Kuavo humanoid every 30 minutes

Leju Robotics and joint venture partner Dongfang Precision inaugurated a dedicated humanoid robot manufacturing facility in Foshan, Guangdong on March 29, 2026. The factory targets 10,000 Kuavo-5 units per year across 24 assembly stages, 77 inspection points, and 41 simulated real-condition tests per unit. The stated cycle time is one robot every 30 minutes.

The company

Leju Robotics was founded in 2016 as a spinout from the Harbin Institute of Technology. It is headquartered in Shenzhen and was among the first participants in the Tencent AI Accelerator. The company has built robots across education, service, and industrial segments since founding. Its AELOS bipedal robot appeared at the closing ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in South Korea. Leju is one of the earliest Chinese companies to have developed full-size bipedal humanoids and one of the few with a decade-long product iteration history before the current humanoid investment cycle began.

The manufacturing structure

Under the Foshan joint venture, Dongfang Precision handles contract manufacturing, debugging, deployment, and post-sale service. Leju retains design, software, and AI integration. The division of responsibilities reflects a deliberate approach to scaling: Leju controls the intelligence and product development layer while Dongfang Precision manages production operations.

The product

Kuavo-5 is Leju's full-size humanoid, standing 170 centimetres tall with self-developed electric actuators producing 360 Nm peak torque. The robot walks omnidirectionally at up to 4.6 km/h across sand, grass, and factory floors, and can climb stairs, recover from stumbles, and jump up to 20 centimetres. Kuavo-5 is designed for modular configuration with interchangeable hands including dexterous, gripper, and claw variants, and can switch between walking and wheeled locomotion modes. The robot runs KaihongOS, based on Huawei's HarmonyOS, with the Pangu AI model, supporting voice commands, task planning, and imitation learning. The international price is approximately $50,000.

Deployments and orders

Units have been delivered in volume to FAW Hongqi, NIO, and Haier across automotive and appliances manufacturing. Leju's chairman Leng Xiaokun said the company received 250 orders in Q1 2025, exceeding its half-year target. Kuavo is currently deployed in universities, exhibition halls, automotive plants, and schools in Sichuan. A partnership with China Telecom packages Kuavo for elder care, safety monitoring, and family companionship applications, extending the customer base from research and industrial buyers toward service environments.

Funding and IPO

In October 2025, Leju completed a pre-IPO round of RMB 1.5 billion, approximately $200 million. The company is reportedly targeting a listing on Shanghai's STAR Market. Earlier funding includes a strategic investment from Tencent and a Series B with participation from Tencent, Hongtai Fund, and Shenzhen Capital Group. The October 2025 round drew Shenzhen Investment Holdings Capital, Shenzhen Longhua Capital, Qianhai Foundation Investment, Oriental Precision, and CITIC Jingshi as investors.

Maturity

The Foshan factory is operational with named customers receiving units. The 10,000-unit annual capacity target, the 30-minute cycle time, and the $50,000 price point are all company-disclosed figures. Independent verification of delivered fleet sizes, uptime data, or task performance at FAW Hongqi, NIO, or Haier has not been published. No IPO filing or exchange date has been announced.

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