As tech stocks plummeted, humanoid robots knocked on Nasdaq! Agility plans to be listed this week, with net sales of only US$174,000 for half a year

The Zhitong Finance App learned that at a time when global technology stock investors are anxious to ask when AI infrastructure will recoup costs and the NASDAQ 100 Index, which covers almost all mainstream technology stocks, and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index, Agility Robotics is heading to US stocks with an answer that is easier to test on site: its humanoid robot Digit is already carrying turnover boxes at customer warehouses, and customers have agreed to deploy it to more sites.

According to the latest disclosure updates, the shareholders of Churchill Capital Corp XI (CCXI.US) have approved the business merger with Agility Robotics. Agility Robotics is a leading humanoid robotics and physical artificial intelligence company. The total amount of funding related to the proposed business merger and related financing arrangements is expected to be approximately $465 million, before deducting transaction costs. This includes approximately US$164 million from Churchill XI trust accounts; approximately US$201 million in private equity investments (PIPE) of listed companies with a $10 commitment per share, led by Foxconn, with the participation of major existing and emerging institutional investors; and US$100 million in equity financing previously received.

Agility Robotics is expected to enter the open market with sufficient capital to invest in commercial expansion as planned and meet growing customer demand. Notably, Agility said it would be the only company publicly listed in the US that specializes in humanoid robots and has proven commercial deployments that are still in operation. Its shares are expected to begin trading on November 5.

Agility Robotics was born out of Oregon State University's Dynamic Robotics Laboratory in 2015 and was founded by Jonathan Hurst, Damien Shelton, and Mikhail Jones. The company launched Cassie, an early biped research robot in 2017, laying the foundation for Digit, which was launched in 2019. Digit is equipped with a torso, arms, and sensors, and is also more capable of computing. The company is gradually shifting its focus from robot motion research to actual material handling tasks in warehouses and factories. Peggy Johnson, a former Microsoft (MSFT) executive and CEO of Magic Leap, became CEO of Agility in 2024, responsible for driving commercialization and scale expansion. Johnson said earlier this month: “Humanoid robots are moving from exploring what is technically possible to solving what can be used in actual work. Our focus is on developing technology, building customer relationships, and building the operational foundation needed for large-scale deployments.”

Commercialization milestones include signing a “robot as a service” agreement with GXO Logistics (GXO) in 2024, which allows customers to use robot services without having to buy hardware directly. Agility's recently disclosed commercial deployment involves GXO (GXO), Schaeffler, Toyota Motor Canada (TM), and MELI (MELI); the company has also received deployment commitments involving nine customer facilities. In September, Agility released Digit 5, a next-generation humanoid robot designed to support large-scale, safe human-robot collaboration. Digit 5 is based on more than 65,000 hours of real environment operation records and years of commercial deployment experience, integrating customer feedback and technological progress to promote the wider application of humanoid robots in manufacturing, warehousing and logistics.

Agility Robotics' well-known investors include e-commerce and cloud computing giant Amazon (AMZN.US), AI chip leader Nvidia (NVDA.US), Vision Fund Phase II, which was founded under the leadership of Japanese investment giant SoftBank, DCVC, Playground Global, and Schaeffler.

In the emerging humanoid robot market, especially in the field of industrial and warehouse automation, Agility Robotics will compete fiercely with Figure AI, Tesla's Optimus (TSLA.US) project, Apptronik, Boston Dynamics, Premium Technology, and 1X Technologies.

Philadelphia Semiconductor fell into a bear market, why did humanoid robots knock on the Nasdaq door?

Just as investors were questioning when the trillion-dollar AI infrastructure process would pay for itself, Agility Robotics went to the US stock market with a questionnaire that was easier to inspect on site: its humanoid robot Digit was already carrying turnover boxes at customer warehouses, and customers agreed to deploy it to more sites. On November 2, shareholders of the special purpose acquisition company Churchill Capital Corp XI approved the merger; if settled on November 4 as planned, Agility common shares will be traded on NASDAQ under the “AGLT” code on November 5.

According to disclosure documents, the transaction and supporting financing are expected to raise approximately US$465 million, without deducting fees, and including the US$100 million previously received. The “only U.S.” (only U.S.) prefix, which the company currently focuses on in investment materials, is clearly defined: it is listed in the US, specializes in humanoid robots, and has proven and continuously operated commercial deployments.

The listing of a robot company with the “America's only” label can be described as catching up with the drastic adjustment of AI transactions. In October, the Nasdaq 100 index fell 6.65%, and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell 15.36%; on October 29, Alphabet Class A shares fell by about 12.6%, the biggest one-day decline since listing; the next day, Intel fell by about 28.6% due to profit guidelines falling short of expectations, the biggest one-day decline since 1974. By the end of October, Fei Ban and the Korea Composite Stock Price Index had both fallen by more than 20% from their highs during the year, entering a technical bear market. On November 3, the Korea Composite Stock Price Index fell another 3.59%, and the memory chip duo SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics fell 5.03% and 4.15% respectively.

The pressure on the credit market is more intuitive on the new cloud service provider CoreWeave. Its stock price fell 37.0% in October and fell 8.6% again on November 2. The US inflation rate rose from 3.4% to 3.7% in September. The 10-year US Treasury yield hit 5.36% on October 7, but fell back to about 4.9% by the end of the month. In the same period, the CoreWeave coupon of 9.75% and the priority unsecured bonds due in 2031 reported only 81.54% of the face value on October 30, with a yield of 15.21%, which is about 10.5 percentage points higher than matching maturing US bonds. Reuters quoted LSEG data as saying that the five-year cumulative default probability implied by its credit default swap (CDS) price on October 15 was close to 63%, compared to about 30% a year ago; this is a risk reflected in the default protection price, not an actual probability of bankruptcy.

New cloud forces such as CoreWeave, including Google's parent company Alphabet, which has negative cash flow, and e-commerce and cloud computing giant Amazon recently faced fundamental pressure to sell off — the company needs to first borrow to buy GPUs, build computer rooms, and then rely on multi-year computing power contracts to repay; CoreWeave's debt is about 50 billion US dollars, and Microsoft, a single customer, accounts for about 67% of its 2025 revenue. Even if the yield on US Treasury bonds of 10 years or more falls, delays in delivery, customer concentration, and risk of refinancing will still be enough for creditors to demand high compensation.

From computing power contracts to warehouse ledgers: Every time Digit moves a box of goods, the market wants to know how much profit it can leave behind?

This round of decline did not cause Wall Street to abandon tech stocks. Deutsche Bank retracted US tech stocks from “neutral” back to “gain” after losing more than 16 percentage points to the rest of the S&P 500 constituents within three weeks; Mike Wilson, a senior stock market strategist at Damo, believes that the midterm elections, AI spending concerns, and liquidity pressure may cause the S&P 500 to drop 7,100 points first, and is still optimistic about 8,000 points after adjustments.

The above judgments target the sector and the US stock market, and are implemented to Agility. Whether the logic of actively allocating this stock is valid depends on whether front-line warehouse customers are willing to continue to pay and how much more money is required for each additional robot.

Logistics provider GXO gave more valuable evidence than the demo video: Digit has moved more than 100,000 containers at one of its Georgia facilities, and the two parties have agreed to expand to two more facilities. For warehouses, the key is whether robots can operate safely for several consecutive shifts in an environment with mixed traffic and changing loads; for Agility, “robots as a service” lowers the threshold for customers to buy a machine at one time, but requires service fees to cover equipment depreciation, maintenance, shutdown, and on-site support costs.

The company disclosed that the potential value of the Digit 5 multi-year order exceeds 300 million US dollars, and fulfillment depends on product specifications and contract milestones; according to the prospectus, actual net sales for the first half of 2026 were only about US$174,000. The key indicators after launch are therefore very specific: whether the paid pilot can be expanded to more sites, whether the effective operating time of each robot can be increased, and whether each case moved can leave a sustainable gross profit.