<div id="readability-page-1">China’s two biggest makers of lidar sensors for cars, Hesai Group and RoboSense Technology, have ramped up investments in robotics products as the country consolidates its leading position in building a global supply chain for the fast-growing sector. Shanghai-based Hesai, the world’s largest producer of lidar sensors that help cars map terrain, planned to spend 200 million yuan (US$28.9 million) this year to design and manufacture “eyes and muscles” for robots, creating a new growth engine after it reported solid earnings for 2025, according to chief financial officer Andrew Fan. “With the rapid development of large language models over the past two years, business leaders have reached a consensus that the robotics industry is on the cusp of truly entering the commercialisation phase,” he told the South China Morning Post on Wednesday. “We will make substantial investment this year to expand our robotics segment.” Fan added that Hesai would unveil its technologies and products designed for robots in April. Short for “light detection and ranging”, lidar sensors use lasers to measure the distance to objects. Smart cars can use this data to build highly accurate maps of their surroundings.  Since robots need to assess their environment to navigate safely, lidar sensors create accurate three-dimensional maps of surroundings to enable them to understand spatial relationships with different objects. Also on Wednesday, Mark Qiu, CEO of Shenzhen-based RoboSense, said lidar sensors would witness breakneck growth buoyed by physical artificial intelligence. “Our robotics business delivered 303,000 units for the [past] year, ranking No 1 globally, with performance significantly exceeding expectations,” he said in a statement after RoboSense posted its first-ever quarterly profit. “Our ultimate vision is to make lidar a ubiquitous category, as essential and ever-present as the common camera.” Qiu added that RoboSense, through its proprietary chipsets, would expand its robotics segment by constantly offering “generational-lead” lidar sensors. The push by lidar makers into the new sector comes amid Beijing’s quest to turn the country into a global robotics leader supported by a strong supply chain for the industry.  China is already the world’s largest market for industrial robots and a front runner in developing humanoids. In 2024, it accounted for 54 per cent of the world’s industrial robots, according to data released by the International Federation of Robotics last September. At the time, China had installed 295,000 industrial robots, far ahead of the 44,500 units in Japan and 34,200 in the US. Early this year, Morgan Stanley forecast that the country’s humanoid robot sales would more than double this year to 28,000 units. Last week, Jensen Huang, CEO of US chip giant Nvidia, said the American robotics industry would have to rely on China’s supply chain because it had the best microelectronics, motors, rare earth and magnets, all of which were foundational to robotics. Chinese assemblers and automotive supply-chain vendors were at the vanguard of electric vehicle technology and production, buoyed by government support and consumers’ willingness to embrace innovation, according to analysts. Hesai, which counts Chinese robotics leader Unitree and smartphone maker Honor as its clients, posted a net profit of 435.9 million yuan for 2025, compared to a net loss of 102.4 million yuan a year earlier. It is the world’s first lidar sensor maker for the automotive sector to report a full-year profit, driven by Chinese carmakers’ surging demand for the key device for developing self-driving cars. The company’s lidar deliveries in 2025 soared 223 per cent on year to 1.62 million units. Hesai, which supplies lidars to the top 10 Chinese carmakers, plans to double its annual capacity to 4 million units this year. RoboSense reported net profit of 103.7 million yuan for the fourth quarter of 2025, its first-ever profitable quarter. The company’s full-year net loss narrowed 70 per cent from 2024 to 146 million yuan. According to the latest data from industry research firm Yole Group, Hesai dominated the global robotaxi lidar business in 2024, accounting for 61 per cent of the US$166 million market, while RoboSense held a 12 per cent share.</div>

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<p>China's leading lidar manufacturers, Hesai Group and RoboSense Technology, are shifting focus to robotics, investing heavily to enhance their supply chain dominance. Hesai plans to invest 200 million yuan in robotics, aiming to unveil new technologies in April. RoboSense reported significant growth in its robotics segment, achieving its first quarterly profit. Both companies are capitalizing on China's position as a global leader in robotics, with the country accounting for over half of the world's industrial robots. Analysts highlight the importance of China's supply chain for the American robotics industry.</p>

China’s lidar giants pivot to robotics in boost supply chain dominance