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When it comes to new energy vehicles, the word "intelligent driving" must be inseparable. In fact, intelligent driving, as one of the important labels of new energy vehicles, has been frequently emphasized by major new energy vehicle companies and is the focus of competition among all parties. It is worth noting that with the vigorous development of the new energy vehicle industry, the development of the intelligent driving industry has also accelerated, and many intelligent driving companies have begun to sprint for IPO.
For example, not long ago, on March 26, Horizon, a provider of intelligent driving solutions, submitted a prospectus to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and officially launched a Hong Kong stock IPO. Before the Horizon sprint listing, Black Sesame Intelligence, an autonomous driving research and development company, had submitted an application for listing on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange again on March 22.
Go with the flow
In fact, as early as 2023, the intelligent driving industry has set off a wave of listings. In addition to the above-mentioned Horizon and Black Sesame Intelligence, more than a dozen related companies in the field of intelligent driving, including Zhixing Technology and Suteng Juchuang, have submitted applications, and some of them have been successfully listed. There are also many reasons behind the successive sprint listings of these intelligent driving companies.
On the one hand, thanks to years of deep cultivation, these intelligent driving companies have accumulated considerable strength and have the confidence to hit the market. In recent years, the new energy vehicle industry has developed rapidly, and the entire autonomous driving industry chain has also developed rapidly. It is understood that since its establishment, Suteng Juchuang has delivered more than 100,000 lidars, and Zhixing Technology, which has become the "first intelligent driving stock" in Hong Kong stocks, is the second largest third-party autonomous driving domain controller provider in China, with a market share of 26.2%.
In addition, according to CIC, Horizon is already the largest Chinese company providing pre-assembly mass production ADAS and AD solutions. In addition, according to the shipment volume of automotive-grade high-computing power SoCs in 2022, Black Sesame Intelligence is the world's third-largest supplier of automotive-grade intelligent vehicle computing SoCs and SoC-based solutions. It can be seen that most of these intelligent driving companies that have started the IPO journey are leaders in their respective fields, and their strength will also be the biggest reliance on their sprint IPO road.
On the other hand, competition in the field of intelligent driving is heating up, and listing will help intelligent driving companies enhance their competitiveness. Intelligent driving has become the key point of differentiated competition for new energy vehicles, and in order not to be stuck by suppliers, most of the car companies have carried out the layout of the whole industry chain, and intelligent driving is the top priority.
You must know that the field of intelligent driving is already difficult to develop and the competition is fierce, and the entry of car companies has made the competition in the field of intelligent driving to a higher level. Therefore, it is urgent for intelligent driving companies to improve their own strength and competitiveness. The listing can not only help the intelligent driving enterprise to gain popularity, but also help the intelligent driving enterprise to raise more funds, so that it has more abundant funds to carry out follow-up business, and achieve continuous improvement of strength.
It is also necessary to for
With the development of the new energy vehicle industry, the importance of intelligent driving technology is becoming more and more well-known to enterprises. However, as car companies have successively deployed in the field of intelligent driving, intelligent driving suppliers are also facing pressure from many parties. The reason why major intelligent driving companies are actively sprinting for IPO is not only based on their own strength, but also because of practical factors.
First, it is difficult for intelligent driving to make profits, and intelligent driving companies are not yet able to achieve self-"hematopoiesis". In fact, although some intelligent driving companies have achieved outstanding results and gained a firm foothold in their respective fields, the problem of difficulty in making profits is still the number one problem faced by intelligent driving-related enterprises.
Specifically, from 2021 to 2023, although Horizon has achieved a substantial increase in revenue from 467 million yuan to 1.552 billion yuan, with a three-year compound annual growth rate of nearly 83%, it has not yet gotten rid of the loss situation. According to the prospectus, from 2021 to 2023, Horizon's three-year total loss will exceed 17.5 billion yuan, and the three-year total adjusted net loss will exceed 4.6 billion yuan. Coincidentally, as of December 31, 2023, the cumulative loss of Black Sesame Intelligence was as high as 11.447 billion yuan. Because intelligent driving companies are mired in a loss-making situation, it is difficult for them to achieve self-hematopoiesis, so they need external blood transfusion, and listing is one of the important windows for them to obtain financing, so the intelligent driving industry has ushered in a wave of listing boom.
Second, due to the impact of the market environment, it is becoming more and more difficult for intelligent driving enterprises to obtain financing in the primary capital market. Different from other industries, intelligent driving enterprises have a high threshold and have high requirements for the technical strength of related enterprises. In order to continuously improve intelligent driving technology, intelligent driving companies are working hard around technology R&D investment for a long time, and most of the R&D investment of intelligent driving companies is at a high level. The R&D investment of technology requires a large amount of financial support, and financing is particularly important for intelligent driving enterprises, especially start-ups.
However, due to the slow progress of the commercialization of intelligent driving, investors' enthusiasm for intelligent driving is gradually decreasing, and it is becoming more and more difficult for intelligent driving companies to raise funds. According to IT orange data, in 2021, a total of 144 investment and financing events occurred in the domestic autonomous driving industry, with a financing scale of 93.2 billion yuan. As of November 14, 2022, there were 92 investment and financing events in the autonomous driving industry (excluding IPOs), with a financing scale of only 24 billion yuan, and the financing scale was only a quarter of that of 2021. At present, the intelligent driving enterprises that cannot achieve self-"hematopoiesis" still need external blood transfusion, and listing is the easiest and most direct way to obtain funds, so it is imperative for intelligent driving enterprises to go public.
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The knockout competition is open, and the "volume" of intelligent driving enterprises does not stop
At present, intelligent driving-related industries are actively seeking to go public, in order to add weight to the second half of the game. It is foreseeable that with the continuous enhancement of the strength of intelligent driving enterprises, the industry competition will become more and more fierce. In fact, the knockout game of intelligent driving has begun, and driving companies have done their best to prepare in order to "survive".
The first is the volume hashrate. Intelligent driving is the core symbol of new energy vehicles, the higher the level of intelligent driving, the more sensors are needed, the higher the information accuracy, and the larger the amount of data, which means that more computing power is needed as support. According to the analysis of Yiou think tank, the required chip computing power will increase by more than ten times for each increase in the level of autonomous driving, and the computing power required for L4 and L5 may be close to 400TOPS and 4000+ TOPS. Therefore, computing power has become one of the important directions for intelligent driving enterprises to enhance their competitiveness.
For example, in the field of intelligent driving chips, Horizon has released three series of chip products: "Journey 2 Series", "Journey 3 Series" and "Journey 5 Series", and the chip computing power has also increased from 4TOPS in Journey 2 to 128TOPS in Journey 5. Coincidentally, in 2019, Black Sesame Intelligence launched the first-generation chip "Huashan No. 1 A500" with a chip computing power of 5-10TOPS, and in 2020, it released the second-generation chip "Huashan No. 2 A1000" with a computing power of 58-116TOPS, and in 2021, Black Sesame Intelligence launched the "Huashan No. 2 A1000 Pro" with a computing power of 106TOPS and a maximum of 196TOPS.
Secondly, the volume is cost-effective. In order to gain the favor of more customers, the intelligent driving industry has also set off a price war, and intelligent driving companies have launched a "cost-effective" program. Specifically, the "unicorn" in the field of intelligent driving, Momo Zhixing has released three second-generation intelligent assisted driving products, and the mass production prices of these three products are at the thousand-yuan level; DJI Automotive released a new generation of intelligent driving solutions in June last year", with a price range of roughly 5000-15000 yuan.
As we all know, lidar is known as the "eye" of autonomous vehicles, and its importance can be imagined. In the field of lidar, the price war is also being staged, and the cost performance has also become the consensus of all parties. For example, Yijing Technology previously released a new SPAD lidar "ZVISION EZ6", the price of which took the lead in breaking the boundary of 2000 yuan, and truly entered the era of "1"; ”
Zhijia is still waiting for the dawn
Under the joint action of many factors, the development of intelligent driving has accelerated. Even the problem of commercialization that is a headache for intelligent driving companies has ushered in a turnaround with the guidance of policies, the gradual maturity of technology, and the improvement of consumers' perception of intelligent driving technology. However, it must be said that the prospect of intelligent driving is huge, but there are also many constraints, and intelligent driving companies are also facing many tests. In other words, the dawn has not yet arrived for all intelligent driving companies.
First, the field of intelligent driving is more than "involution", and the pressure on intelligent driving enterprises is not small. At present, new energy vehicles are fighting a price war, and this has forced intelligent driving companies to start offering the killer feature of cost performance to meet the needs of car companies, so as to get more customers and orders. However, with the start of the price war, the profit margins of intelligent driving companies are bound to be further compressed, which undoubtedly increases the profitability of intelligent driving enterprises.
Second, the commercialization of intelligent driving is still being explored. The importance of commercialization for intelligent driving enterprises is self-evident, if the commercialization road cannot be run through, it will be difficult for intelligent driving enterprises to form self-hematopoietic ability, which will have an impact on their subsequent development. However, although the commercialization process of intelligent driving is accelerating under the joint influence of many factors, it still takes time before it finally bears fruit. For intelligent driving companies, there is still a long way to go.
There is no doubt that intelligent driving is an important label for automobiles now and even in the future, and the deep cultivation and layout of all parties in the field of intelligent driving will further promote the development of the intelligent driving industry. However, there are both opportunities and challenges in the field of intelligent driving, and intelligent driving companies still need to continue to move forward and overcome difficulties. It is believed that with the continuous advancement of the intelligent driving industry, intelligent driving companies will eventually wait for the day of harvest. It's just that before dawn, you still need to survive a dark night.