On December 27th, Youjia Innovation (02431.HK) was officially listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, adding another strong player to the intelligent driving concept track of the Capital Market.
In fact, 2024 is a ‘big year’ for smart driving companies to land on the Capital Market. Since October, WeRide, Pony.ai have been listed on the US stock market. TuSimple, Horizon, Black Gate.io Intelligence have landed on the Hong Kong stock market this year. Foraytech, Zhongmu Technology, Xidi Zhijia have submitted applications to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, and Sai Mu Technology has passed the listing hearing. Deng Shengxing, Chairman of the Hong Kong Stock Analysts Association, believes that new energy vehicles on the mainland already have a leading advantage globally, but the industry is also facing severe competition. To enhance their competitiveness, intelligent driving systems have become a decisive factor.
Hong Kong stocks welcome the new force of intelligent driving again
Yujia Innovation landed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange today, with an issue price of HKD 17.00 per share, an opening price of HKD 18.60, up 9.41%; closing at HKD 19.4, a 14.12% increase from the issue price, with a latest market value of HKD 7.744 billion. The company stated that through listing on the international platform of the Hong Kong Capital Market, Yujia Innovation will further enhance its influence and inject new vitality into the global smart driving industry.
At the listing ceremony, Dr. Liu Guoqing, co-founder and chairman of Youjia Innovation, struck the opening bell, stating, “We will continue to focus on technological innovation, steadily advance our global strategy, accelerate the commercialization process, further enhance market competitiveness, and strive to give intelligent vehicles a safer and more comfortable driving experience.”
Since its establishment in 2014, INNOVATION has always adhered to the concept of “empowering smart cars”, focusing on the iteration and implementation of cutting-edge intelligent driving technology, promoting car automation, and enhancing safety and driving experience. After many years of deep cultivation, the company has established differentiated competitive advantages, and has mature commercial capabilities, becoming a leading supplier of intelligent driving and intelligent cockpit solutions in China.
Yujia Innovation adheres to the progressive route of intelligent driving development, gradually developing intelligent driving solutions with continuously improved automation levels. In addition to providing customized intelligent driving solutions from L0 to L2+ levels, the company has also been actively developing more advanced autonomous driving technologies. The L4 level autonomous driving solution iRobo is expected to be delivered in the first quarter of 2025.
With abundant R&D experience, mass production experience, and brand recognition, as of June 30, 2024, Drive Innovation has entered into mass production agreements with 29 OEMs for 94 models; as of December 10, 2024, Drive Innovation has accumulated mass production agreements with 35 OEMs. Amidst the wave of globalization, Drive Innovation is actively promoting its global strategy while consolidating its domestic market. By the first half of 2024, the company has achieved SOP for 21 export models of 4 OEMs, which are sold to regions including the EU, Australia, the UK, Southeast Asia, and Hong Kong.
According to Zhoushi Consulting, Youjia Innovation is one of the first DMS solution providers in China to help the whole vehicle manufacturers’ models obtain the ADDW and DDAW certifications of the EU general safety regulations. It is also the first Chinese intelligent cockpit solution provider to help Chinese whole vehicle manufacturers obtain the E-NCAP five-star rating.
Horizon makes the biggest technology IPO in Hong Kong stock market
In fact, since the end of 2023, when ZHISHIXING Technology successfully went public on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, becoming the first stock in Hong Kong’s capital market, the concept of intelligent driving in the Hong Kong stock market has continued to expand. In 2024, Suteng Juchuang, Horizon, and Black Gate.io Intelligence successively joined this camp.
Among them, on October 24th, Horizon, as a leading provider of smart driving solutions, was officially listed on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, raising a total of HKD 5.407 billion, making it the largest technology IPO in Hong Kong stocks this year. Horizon is a company focused on the development of edge AI chips. In April this year, at the ‘2024 Smart Driving Technology Product Launch Conference’, Horizon released the new generation of in-vehicle intelligent computing solution Horizon Journey® 6 Series and the Horizon SuperDrive full-scene smart driving solution. At the same time, it announced the first batch of 10 mass production cooperation car companies and brands for the Journey® 6 Series, including SAIC Group, Volkswagen Group, BYD, Ideal Auto, GAC Group, DeepBlue Technology, BAIC Group, and Chery Auto.
Forte, Zongmu Technology, Xidi Zhijia, Saimeike Technology and other intelligent driving concept companies are also sprinting for Hong Kong IPOs, and this sector may continue to expand in 2025.
Saimu Technology recently announced that it has passed the listing hearing. As a technology company focusing on the simulation testing technology of Intelligent Connected Vehicles (ICV), it is mainly engaged in the design and development of ICV simulation testing products and provides related testing, verification, and evaluation solutions. According to Frost & Sullivan data, based on the 2023 revenue, Saimu Technology is the largest market participant in China’s ICV testing, verification, and evaluation solutions industry, with a market share of 5.3%. Based on the 2022 revenue, Saimu Technology is the largest market participant in China’s ICV simulation testing software and platform market, with a market share of approximately 5.9%.
Foretek, Zongmu Technology, and Cidi Zhijia have submitted their forms to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Among them, Foretek is a leading provider of mass-produced intelligent driving solutions in China, covering advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and autonomous driving systems (ADS) technologies, and the company has developed a full-stack integrated software and hardware intelligent driving platform ODIN. CiDi Zhijia mainly focuses on the research and development of autonomous mining trucks and logistics vehicles, V2X technology and high-performance perception solutions, and provides cutting-edge products and solutions based on proprietary technology.
Still the darling of the capital
However, although the stock price of Youjia Innovation rose sharply today, the stock price performance of other intelligent driving concept stocks after listing is not very ideal. Suteng Juchuang and Horizon are currently in a state of breaking. The stock price of Black Gate.io Intelligence is only slightly higher than the issue price.
In fact, as a typical “burning money” track, the characteristic of the intelligent driving industry is the need for huge continuous investment, but the return period is very long. At present, most intelligent driving companies are facing the problem of losses before listing. Xiaomi recently revealed that its investment in intelligent driving technology research and development in the past 3 years has reached 5.5 billion yuan. From 2021 to the first half of 2024, Horizon’s R&D expenditures reached 1.144 billion yuan, 1.88 billion yuan, 2.366 billion yuan, and 1.42 billion yuan respectively.
Despite facing many challenges, as an important branch of the field of artificial intelligence, autonomous driving has attracted a lot of attention from capital in recent years, and concept companies in autonomous driving are still favored by capital. Take Youjia Innovation as an example, it received angel round financing from Alibaba CEO Wu Yongming in the early stage and investment support from major customer NavInfo. Since its establishment, Youjia Innovation has completed nearly 10 rounds of financing, and has received investments from well-known institutions such as Zeyi Investment, China Development Bank Manufacturing Transformation Fund, CICC Capital, Yuanjing Capital, Jia Shi Investment, PwC Capital, Oriental Rich Sea, Kaihui Fund, and Boyuan Capital.
Since its establishment, Horizon has received multiple investments from shareholders including SAIC, GAC, Great Wall, BYD, FAW, Intel, Yunfeng Fund, Wuyuan Capital, Sequoia Capital, Hillhouse, Blackstone, SK Hynix, CATL, Luxshare Precision, Xingyu Co., Ltd., Truly Opto-electronics, Weir shares, and Sunway Optoelectronics. The total financing exceeds 3.4 billion US dollars. Furui Technology also has a luxurious shareholder lineup, with investors including Changxing Financial Holding, PICC Capital, Yuan Chuang Capital, Everbright Financial Holding, Wuzhen Tourism Investment, Chunxin Hongtu, China Communications Fund, BAIC Investment, TCL Investment, Shaanxi Automobile Group, and Geely Group.
As the competition in the field of intelligent driving intensifies, Li Maoxiang, a partner of Kaihui Fund, believes that the ultimate competition pattern in the intelligent driving industry will depend on two key factors: first, user demand, whether it can provide products with higher cost-effectiveness and more differentiation; second, supply-side capabilities, whether existing enterprises can meet the increasingly high expectations of users.
CITIC Securities believes that self-developed chips are expected to become an important variable in this field by 2025. According to the data from Gate.io Intelligence, the R&D cycle of a single chip is about 3 years. Referring to the investment of third-party chip companies, as of the end of 2023, Horizon and Gate.io Intelligence had 1478 and 950 R&D personnel respectively, with a total R&D investment from 2021 to 2023 of 53.9 billion yuan and 27.2 billion yuan. CITIC Securities believes that head car companies represented by BYD have a high feasibility of achieving self-developed chips. In the end, the smart driving chip is expected to benchmark the mobile phone. Self-developed chips and third-party chips are expected to coexist in the long term, and leading players are expected to lead the industry development in a software and hardware integrated manner.
(Article Source: Securities Times·e Company)
Source: East Money
Author: Securities Times·e Company
