China's robot-hand maker Linkerbot aims for $6 billion valuation

Published: 2026-05-04 03:04:40 ET BABA

Published on 05/04/2026 at 03:04 am EDT

STORY: This Chinese startup is building robot hands that might one day make a surgeon jealous.

Linkerbot is aiming for a $6 billion valuation in its next funding round, having closed one round last week at half that value.

The two-year-old company already holds over 80% of the global market for advanced high-degree-of-freedom robotic hands.

Alex Zhou is the firm's chief executive.

"Overall, our goal is to achieve one million pairs of robotic hands as quickly as possible. Our current production capacity is already quite large, we are now producing close to 5,000 units per month, and we expect that figure to reach around 10,000 per month very soon."

While many competitors focus on household chores like cleaning, picking up objects, and folding clothes, Beijing-based Linkerbot is taking a different path.

Zhou said the company focuses on the skills of top artisans, which he calls 'dexterous craft'.

The company's tech platform has already captured over 500 real-world dexterous skills, and converted them into ready-to-use actions for Linkerbot's products.

The hands can already turn screws fast, pick up soft items, thread a needle, and do very precise factory work.

Prominent early investors range from big tech names like Alibaba's Ant Group to venture funds and state-backed capital.

While humanoid robots remain very expensive, Linkerbot says its hands don't need a head and body to match.

Instead, they can just be fitted to regular robot arms, helping to keep costs down.