Based on last Thursday’s closing price of 203.8 yuan (US$29.85), chairman Yuyu, 56, and his older brother, vice chairman Jing, 61, who each hold a 17% stake, are worth about $1 billion each, according to Forbes.

Founded in 2011 by Yuyu, the company, also known as Leaderdrive, focuses on producing affordable components for robots. It has grown into China’s largest manufacturer of harmonic reducers, precision gear systems that function as joints in robotic arms and humanoid machines.

According to J.P. Morgan, Leaderdrive holds between 30% and 40% of China’s harmonic reducer market. Its domestic clients include world's leading humanoid robot manufacturers such as Agibot and UBTech Robotics.

Different joints in the Adam-U humanoid robot developed by China's PND Robotics. Photo courtesy of PND Robotics

Leaderdrive reported strong financial growth in 2025, with net profit more than doubling year-on-year to 124.4 million yuan, while revenue rose 47% to 570.7 million yuan. The company attributed the gains to rapid expansion in both industrial robotics and humanoid robot markets.

Global shipments of humanoid robots rose nearly 480% in 2025 to 13,318 units, according to research firm Omdia, which projects the figure will reach 2.6 million units by 2035.

Yuyu, a physics graduate of Nanjing University, began his career in 1999 at Hengjia Metal in Suzhou, eastern China, where he led its mechanical engineering business. He later shifted focus to robotics in 2003, developing harmonic reducers before formally establishing Leaderdrive.

In a 2020 interview with Shanghai Securities News, he described the company’s early challenges, noting that key technologies were dominated by Japanese firms and progress came after "a process of constant trial and error."

"If there’s a secret to our success, it’s the ability to endure and the willingness to invest the time."

Jing joined the company in 2014 as general manager. The brothers took Leaderdrive public on Shanghai’s STAR Market in 2020, raising around 1.1 billion yuan through its initial public offering.

The Zuo brothers are among a growing group of Chinese entrepreneurs benefiting from the robotics supply chain boom. Others include Wang Xinyang, founder of Changchun-based image sensor maker Gpixel Changchun Microelectronics, and Howard Huang, founder of Shenzhen-based Orbbec, which produces 3D vision cameras that allow robots to perceive depth.