Tuopu Group

Business

Tuopu (宁波拓普集团股份有限公司) describes its main business as auto parts, embodied-AI parts and liquid-cooling products. The auto parts side has eight product lines, including air suspension, intelligent driving, thermal management, chassis, lightweight bodies and NVH (noise and vibration) parts. The embodied-AI side is built around robot actuators and is extending to body structural parts (2026 interim report, p. 7).

Results

In the first half of 2026 revenue rose 9.8% to ¥14.20bn, but net profit attributable to shareholders fell 21.0% to ¥1.02bn (p. 5). The company blames rising labour, depreciation and raw material costs as new capacity ramps up and currency movements, not the robot business (p. 9). Chassis systems (¥4.24bn) and interior and functional parts (¥4.77bn) were the largest lines (p. 8).

Robot actuators

The company says an actuator is the core part of a robot and comes in two types, linear and rotary. It says each humanoid needs dozens of them. It lists its advantages as in-house permanent-magnet servo motors and frameless motors, experience combining motor, reducer and controller, precision machining, and shared development and test resources, which it traces to its brake-by-wire (IBS) work (p. 12).

What the filing shows for the first half of 2026 (pp. 8, 12):

• Robot actuator revenue was ¥14.0m, up 83.4%, with a gross margin of 27.0%, down 3.5 points.
• Linear actuators, rotary actuators and dexterous-hand motors have entered small-batch delivery.
• Body structural parts, foot shock absorbers and electronic skin are being prepared for volume production.
• The first phase of a robot parts production base is largely complete.

The report names no robot customers and gives no volumes. At ¥14.0m, robot actuators were about 0.1% of revenue.

Media reports on Tesla

Chinese media have linked Tuopu to Tesla's Optimus humanoid. The 21st Century Business Herald reported in September 2026, citing industry sources, that Tesla had begun factory audits in Ningbo ahead of Optimus mass production. A Tuopu staff member, asked by a reporter, said the company had no notice of an audit but that it cooperates with Tesla on linear, rotary and dexterous-hand actuators and that its robot parts base was ready (IT之家, 19 September 2026). Tesla did not respond, and the company's own report does not name Tesla as a robot customer. Media accounts differ on which actuator types Tuopu supplies.

Where it stands

Tuopu's robot position rests on its automotive manufacturing, not on robot sales. The margin on its small actuator business is well above its car parts lines, which ran at 16% to 21% (p. 8), but the revenue is still too small to move the company's results.