From Yole's latest report, Hesai, the leading player in solid-state LiDAR, delivers high growth

The laser radar that was once "rejected" by Musk has been intensively adopted in the past two years, and the industrialization process has hit the "acceleration button". Recently, Zhìtōng Finance and Economics APP noticed that Yole Intelligence, a market research institution under Yole Group, released the "2024 Global Automotive LiDAR Market Report" (hereinafter referred to as the "Report"). The "Report" shows that in 2023, the global automotive LiDAR market reached 538 million US dollars, a strong increase of 79% year-on-year. Among them, the performance of passenger car LiDAR (ADAS) market is particularly remarkable, with a growth rate as high as 145% from 2022 to 2023. The surge in the scale of the passenger car LiDAR market is closely related to the increasing number of domestic and foreign car companies joining the trend of adopting LiDAR. According to Yole Intelligence statistics, the installation volume of passenger car LiDAR in 2023 was 762,000 units, more than three times that of 2022. In the competition of LiDAR among car companies, Hesai (HSAI.US), as a global leader in automotive LiDAR, is far ahead in several key industry indicators. The "Report" shows that Hesai has won four global firsts in the automotive LiDAR market, including the first global market share of automotive LiDAR, the first global market share and installation volume of ADAS, and the first global market share of autonomous driving LiDAR. At the same time, Hesai has become the only Chinese company in this field to win the "multiple global firsts" for three consecutive years. According to the "Report", driven by the strong demand in the ADAS and L4 autonomous driving market, Hesai continues to lead the global automotive LiDAR total revenue ranking with a market share as high as 37%. Furthermore, in the passenger car LiDAR market, with multiple innovative mass production projects and years of deep technical advantages, Hesai won the first place in market share and installation volume in 2023. Data shows that in 2023, Hesai's market share in this segment reached 26%, steadily increasing from 23% in the same period last year, indicating that Hesai's products are increasingly favored and trusted by OEM customers. In Hesai's traditional strong field of L4 autonomous driving LiDAR market, Hesai continues to dominate with a market share of 74%. It is understood that currently, Hesai maintains close cooperation with almost all leading players in autonomous driving at home and abroad, with 9 out of the top 10 L4 autonomous driving companies globally using Hesai's LiDAR, highlighting its market advantage. Looking through the "Report", Hesai, with multiple championship honors, is undoubtedly the most noteworthy company in the automotive LiDAR market. At the same time, considering the overall industry outlook and Hesai's own situation, at this stage, Hesai's commercial potential may not have been fully realized, and the company's growth prospects are also worth optimistic expectations from the market. Firstly, in terms of the industry, in May of this year, the sales volume of new energy vehicles priced above 150,000 RMB was approximately 509,000 units, with a LiDAR penetration rate of 20.5%, already achieving a "leap across the gap" ahead of schedule. With the rapid increase in penetration rate, LiDAR is expected to usher in greater development opportunities Looking back at the company itself, in the global front-loading production market, Hesai has obtained designated points from 18 major OEMs for nearly 70 vehicle models, including a globally produced model from a top international automotive brand, providing important support for the company's future performance release; from a financial perspective, unlike most peers who "burn money" to gain market share, Hesai is the only lidar company with positive operating cash flow in 2023, and the company is expected to achieve profitability in Q4 this year. The robust "positive cash flow generation capability" also means that the company is expected to take the lead in the fierce lidar market and achieve high-quality development in the true sense