Lidar is the eye of autonomous driving, but the pricing power is in the hands of car companies, which makes Suteng Juchuang temporarily in a sales dilemma.
Highlights:
The loss attributable to shareholders has continued to expand in the past three years, with a loss of 20 percent last year900 million yuan.
Gross profit margin is narrowing, falling to -7 last year4%。
This article was written by Li Shida.
Autonomous driving technology is a battleground for car companies, and to achieve autonomous driving technology, it is necessary to equip the car with a pair of "eyes" that can accurately detect the environment. Among a variety of technical means, the installation of lidar is considered to be the current mainstream solution.
Following the leading LiDAR enterprises in the MainlandHesai Technology(hsai.US) successfully went public in the United States after one of its main competitorsSuteng Juchuang Technology***Recently, it successfully passed the listing hearing of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and became the "first LiDAR stock in Hong Kong".
Lidar is a sensor used to obtain precise position information, which works by sending a detection signal (laser beam) to the target detection object, and then comparing the signal emitted back by the target with the transmitted signal to obtain relevant information about the target, such as target distance, bearing, altitude, speed, attitude, and even shape and other parameters, so as to detect, track and identify the target.
Compared with other environmental detection solutions, LiDAR has the advantages of strong anti-interference ability, not affected by light, high resolution, and small size. However, the disadvantage is that R&D expenses are high and high costs.
Suteng Juchuang was founded in 2014 and is headquartered in Shenzhen. The founder and CEO is Qiu Chunxin, a post-80s Ph.D. graduate from Harbin Institute of Technology. In 2015, Sutar released the first static 3D laser scanner, which was originally used in the field of home improvement and construction, and with the rise of autonomous driving under the leadership of Tesla, Sutar released 16-line semi-solid-state lidar in 2016, officially entering the field of automotive lidar, and is the first company in the world to realize the mass production of automotive-grade solid-state lidar.
In addition to automotive lidar, Sutar's business also includes lidar hardware for robotics and other non-automotive industries, and sales of lidar perception solutions that integrate lidar hardware and artificial intelligence perception software.
According to CIC, as of June 30, 2023, Sutar has obtained 21 automakers and Tier 1 manufacturers, with a total of 52 models of pre-installed mass production expected orders, ranking first in the world, and has achieved mass production of 13 models with nine of them. At present, they have also established cooperative relations with more than 200 automobile OEMs and first-class manufacturers around the world.
Over 100,000 units have been delivered over the years
In terms of shipments, since its inception, as of March 31, 2023, Suteng Juchuang has delivered more than 100,000 lidars. If the market share is measured by revenue related to automotive LiDAR, Hesai Technology ranked first in the world with a market share of 48% in 2022. Sutar ranks third, with a market share of about 1542%。
However, lidar is a money-burning industry. According toPost-Hearing InformationIn 2020, 2021 and 2022, the company's revenue was 1700 million yuan, 3300 million yuan, 5300 million yuan.
However, in the past three years, the loss attributable to shareholders was 2200 million yuan, 16$600 million and $20900 million yuan. As of June 30, 2023, 7A loss of 700 million yuan. The cumulative loss in three and a half years is 47400 million yuan. While revenue is increasing, losses are also widening.
From the perspective of gross profit margin, Suteng will be from 2020 and 2021. 4%, down to -7 in 20224%。In order to seize the market, Suteng does not hesitate to make loss-making transactions. According to the prospectus, since June 2021, Sutar has mass-produced products** usually lower than prototypes**, and the unit price of its products has also dropped from 20,000 yuan to 4,346 yuan.
Due to the overall downward trend of electric vehicles** in China, coupled with the huge pricing advantage of car manufacturers, LiDAR products** may continue to decline. According to the prospectus, Sutar has reached agreements with a number of customers to reduce prices by 1% to 5% per annum in the future. "If the overall electric vehicle** continues to decline, it will be difficult to guarantee the overall profit margin."
Although Sutar has obtained 21 automobile OEMs and 52 front-end mass production orders for first-class manufacturers, ranking first in the world, it has not been converted into actual orders.
Suteng said it had been obtainedFAW(000800.sz)、SAIC(600104.sh)、GAC(601238.sh,2238.hk)、Geely(0175.hk,gelyy.us )、The Great Wall(601633.sh,2333.HK) and other designated projects of domestic leading automobile manufacturers. But FAW Hongqi,Leapmotor(9863.HK), Great Wall Motor has reached relevant cooperation with Hesai Technology this year.
Musk criticized the expensive and ugly
In fact, although the field of lidar is generally optimistic, there are certain risk factors. Industry leader Hesai Technology was listed on the NASDAQ in February this year, and its stock price has exceeded 50% nine months later, mainly because the United States believes that its dominance in the technology field will threaten the United States' lidar field and may become the target of geopolitical disputes.
In addition, LiDAR is not favored by everyone as an environmental detection solution for autonomous driving. One of them isTesla(tsla.US) founder Elon Musk. Musk has publicly stated that "lidar is expensive, ugly, and unnecessary;."Any company that uses lidar is doomed. "Tesla is a proponent of pure visual autonomous driving, using AI computing to analyze information through the lens and then using AI computing. In addition to Tesla, Toyota has also shifted to pure visual aids.
Despite this, the lidar solution is still the choice of many car companies, but for high-level autonomous driving technology, there is still a long way to go before it can be commercialized on a large scale. This means that many manufacturers need to continue to invest in R&D to meet the needs of more users, and then obtain more pricing power.
In the past three years, Suteng's R&D expenditure was 8,15340,000 yuan, 1300 million yuan, 3100 million yuan, accounting for the revenue of each period. 2% and 577%。Suteng is expected to go public to raise 7800 million to 11HK$700 million, of which 45% will be spent on research and development.
For Suteng, striving to go public as soon as possible can get more funds to get rid of losses, and it is also a way to increase competitiveness and survive the competition.