While the "listing wave" of autonomous driving companies has yet to subside, the IPO boom of smart cockpit enterprises has surged forward. Following the race for IPOs among autonomous driving companies like Black Sesame Technologies, Horizon Robotics, and WeRide in 2024, this year it's the turn of smart cockpit companies. Recently, Alibaba announced its plan to spin off Banma Network Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Banma Zhixing") and list it independently on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Previously, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange officially disclosed that SiWei Zhilian (Nanjing) Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "SiWei Zhilian") has formally submitted its prospectus.

According to incomplete statistics, multiple smart cockpit companies including Magnesium Technology, Pateo, and Zejing Electronics have also submitted prospectuses to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, successively heading to Hong Kong for IPOs. On the rapid development path of smart vehicles, smart cockpits are no longer simple accessories but have moved to center stage, with market competition becoming increasingly fierce. Going public has become a major boost for these companies to "break through the circle."

**01 For Survival and Expansion**

For smart cockpit technology companies, IPO financing is almost a common goal for all companies at present. Industry insiders believe that in fierce market competition, IPO financing may be the key to jumping over the survival line.

Securities analyst Liu Qing stated that from the prospectuses disclosed by these companies, most enterprises have sustained losses over the past three years. The reasons are nothing more than the rapid technological evolution in this industry, resulting in high R&D investment requiring continuous substantial "money burning." He believes that choosing to list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange is largely to alleviate financial pressure.

According to reports, Banma Zhixing, which ranks first in smart cockpit solution installations, disclosed in its prospectus that its smart cockpit solution installations have grown from 835,000 units in 2022 to 2.334 million units in 2024, with a compound annual growth rate of 67.2%. As of June 30, 2025, its smart cockpit solutions have been installed in over 8 million vehicles from 60 OEMs, covering more than 14 countries. However, the expansion of market scale has not improved its financial condition. From 2022 to 2024, Banma Zhixing's losses were 878 million yuan, 876 million yuan, and 847 million yuan respectively, with the loss reasons being high R&D investment and relatively concentrated customer structure.

SiWei Zhilian also has 7 years of development history, with its integrated cabin-parking solution service ranking second in the domestic industry. In 2024, all top 10 automakers by sales volume in the Chinese market have selected SiWei Zhilian's products for some of their vehicle models. However, its financial condition is also unsatisfactory. From 2022 to 2024, SiWei Zhilian's net profit losses were 13.59 million yuan, 59.808 million yuan, and 133 million yuan respectively.

Magnesium Technology's market scale is also expanding, with delivery volume exceeding 634,300 units in 2024, serving 12 OEM customers with a cumulative number of 48 designated projects. Profit and loss data shows that from 2022 to 2024, its net losses were 423 million yuan, 357 million yuan, and 291 million yuan respectively.

As for Pateo, as of December 31, 2024, it has cumulatively provided services for over 200 vehicle models from more than 50 automotive brands. Over the past three years, adjusted net losses were 391 million yuan, 218 million yuan, and 352 million yuan respectively.

Zejing Electronics, whose main product is smart cockpit HUD, had established deep cooperation with 22 automotive companies by the end of 2024, cumulatively obtaining designations for over 90 vehicle models. Over the past three years, although Zejing Electronics achieved a compound annual growth rate of 64.3% in total revenue, its net profit losses were 252 million yuan, 182 million yuan, and 143 million yuan respectively.

"These companies are rushing to list in Hong Kong for both survival pressure relief and expansion needs," analyzed Ji Xuehong, Director of the Automotive Industry Innovation Research Center at North China University of Technology. These companies hope to improve their loss situation through Hong Kong IPO and achieve break-even or profitability earlier. Meanwhile, they also hope to enhance brand value and international influence, building a good foundation for business expansion. Additionally, the current smart cockpit industry is facing an industry development inflection point, experiencing unprecedented transformation and fierce market competition. Companies also hope to obtain more resources through listing to enhance market competitiveness.

**02 Technology + Ecosystem are Key to Attracting Capital**

Whether a company is worth investing in, technical strength is the primary factor. Ji Xuehong believes that in the smart cockpit field, technology is the core element for enterprises to establish themselves in the market and participate in competition. Currently, leading smart cockpit companies like Banma Zhixing, SiWei Zhilian, and Pateo have developed their respective core technologies over years of development, building smart cockpit solutions with distinct technical characteristics. Continuous innovation has not only helped them expand market scale but is also expected to become an important "magnet" for attracting capital.

Comparatively, most smart cockpit companies planning to go public recently have strong full-stack self-developed capabilities. For example, Banma Zhixing integrates three core technologies - system-level operating system solutions, AI full-stack end-to-end architecture, and in-vehicle platform services - into a unified solution. This deep integration capability enables it to form differentiated competitive advantages in the smart cockpit field.

SiWei Zhilian's characteristic is having a full-stack self-developed software platform, thereby building an autonomous technology system from underlying operating systems to upper-layer applications, supporting modular development and cross-platform adaptation. Its platform integrates infotainment, vehicle control, AI assistant, and other functions, achieving rapid customization through toolchains and significantly reducing customer development costs by 30%.

Magnesium Technology has not only developed standardized, modular, software-driven integrated domain controller solutions, achieving smart cockpit + parking integrated solutions driven by a single automotive-grade main control chip, but also has a full-scenario intelligent voice system in smart cockpit solutions, with voice recognition accuracy reaching the industry's high level of 99%.

Pateo focuses on full-stack smart cockpit + central computing platform, promoting architecture evolution toward "central computing + regional control."

Besides core technology, Liu Rui, Professor at the School of Applied Economics at Renmin University of China, believes that ecosystem synergy capability is another key factor attracting capital markets to these technology companies. He cited as an example that Banma Zhixing, empowered by both Alibaba and SAIC, has built an ecosystem closed loop of "shareholders + customers + suppliers," enabling Banma Network to occupy advantages in the industrial chain. SiWei Zhilian's deep cooperation with internet giants has cultivated new growth points for its future data value-added services.

"Smart cockpit companies continuously build ecosystem synergy systems, bringing more possibilities for user data analysis and mining, achieving precision marketing and personalized services, which is key to attracting capital markets," he said.

Additionally, smart cockpit companies are mostly emerging enterprises. To dispel capital concerns, they need endorsement from leading enterprises in the industrial ecosystem, which is also content that smart cockpit companies planning to list in Hong Kong emphasize in their prospectuses. For instance, Banma Zhixing's largest shareholders are SAIC Group and Alibaba, with SAIC Group being its largest customer. SiWei Zhilian's largest customer has always been controlling shareholder NavInfo, with shareholders including Didi and Tencent. Pateo's shareholders include Tianjin Jinmi under Xiaomi Group, Dongfeng Group Co., and FAW Investment.

In Liu Qing's view, listed companies, especially those listing in Hong Kong, if endorsed by industry leading enterprises, can not only bring stable revenue sources but also demonstrate product reliability and market competitiveness to capital, effectively enhancing capital attractiveness.

**03 Sustaining Capital Confidence is a Tough Battle**

Overall, leading smart cockpit companies have made sufficient preparations for listing, but going public is only the first step - sustaining capital confidence is key. Currently in the smart cockpit field, not only are technology companies making efforts, but automakers are also developing in-house solutions, and some large technology companies are competing to enter this track. Relatively speaking, the future development prospects of smart cockpit companies are not clear. How to stabilize their market position and capital confidence remains a "tough battle" for smart cockpit companies planning to list in Hong Kong.

Liu Rui believes that innovation is the only winning formula. "Smart cockpits are the culmination of automotive intelligence technology, with accelerating technological iterations. Smart cockpit companies can only work on technological innovation to cope with competition," he said. Around smart cockpits, chips basically undergo major iterations every two years, while operating systems are updated annually, putting smart cockpit companies under constant enormous technological competitive pressure. To maintain leading positions in this fierce competition, companies must continuously invest in high-intensity R&D, enhancing competitiveness through rapid technological iterations and stabilizing capital confidence.

"We cannot find the 'new world' with an 'old map,'" said Ying Yilun, founder of Pateo. In today's era, we must use new perspectives and technological innovation "new navigation maps" for companies to move toward the future more steadily.

Technology is the breakthrough point, while market layout can be said to be a vital element concerning survival and death. "In the ever-changing market, companies must achieve transition from relying on major customers to diversified layout to truly enhance their ability to resist market risks," Liu Qing believes. Some smart cockpit companies in their early development often over-rely on a few major customers. Although high customer concentration can bring stable orders and revenue in the short term, it also harbors risks and hidden dangers. Capital pays high attention to companies' customer structures, with excessive customer concentration having become an important indicator for capital to assess enterprise risks. Only by achieving diversified layout can smart cockpit companies steadily enhance their capabilities and win capital trust and favor.

Ji Xuehong suggests that in uncertain markets, companies should also actively seek second growth curves, such as exploring international markets. He believes that the Hong Kong stock market inherently has effects of higher internationalization and favorable brand awareness enhancement, providing convenience for companies to "go overseas." Increasing expansion efforts in overseas markets and cultivating new growth points through "going overseas" is both the foundation for smart cockpit companies to maintain and enhance market positions in future market competition and a "magic weapon" for stabilizing capital confidence.