Shanghai has produced a remarkable unicorn: LiDAR manufacturer Hesai Group, which is preparing for a Hong Kong listing. According to August 2025 data, Hesai Group has achieved a total market capitalization of $3.414 billion (approximately 24 billion yuan).

The company specializes in LiDAR technology, a critical component serving as the "eyes" of intelligent driving systems.

Eleven years ago, three post-85 academic achievers who graduated from top-tier institutions—Li Yifan, Sun Kai, and Xiang Shaoqing—returned to China to establish Hesai Group, which has now become an industry leader.

Based on 2024 market share data for China's LiDAR sector, Hesai Group commands the top position with a 35.0% share. In the global automotive LiDAR market, its share reaches an impressive 37%, making it the world's largest automotive LiDAR supplier.

Through examining Hesai Group's trajectory, we can explore the structural opportunities emerging within the LiDAR industry.

**Founding Team and Early Development**

Hesai Group's founders are Li Yifan, Xiang Shaoqing, and Sun Kai.

Li Yifan graduated from Tsinghua University before pursuing doctoral studies at the University of Illinois. He previously served as Chief Engineer at Western Digital Corporation in the United States.

Xiang Shaoqing holds degrees from Tsinghua University and Stanford University, and formerly worked as a Product Architect for next-generation product development at Apple Inc.

Sun Kai, along with Li Yifan and Xiang Shaoqing, maintained regular contact during their time in the United States as alumni. In 2013, the trio founded Hesai Group. At that time, Li Yifan continued his role at Western Digital while serving as the company's CEO.

The company initially focused on developing high-performance LiDAR systems. In 2016, it launched its first automotive-grade LiDAR product. Over the following three years, the technology gained widespread adoption among autonomous driving companies.

By 2021, the company achieved mass production of automotive-grade LiDAR for original equipment manufacturers. As of 2023, Hesai LiDAR units installed in vehicles reached nearly 160,000 units, ranking first globally and becoming China's first company to achieve large-scale OEM mass production.

The client base includes automakers such as NIO, XPeng, Li Auto, and JIDU, as well as autonomous driving solution providers like Baidu and Pony.ai.

Before Hesai's establishment, similar products existed in the market, but Hesai enhanced vehicles' environmental perception capabilities, better addressing the limitations of cameras and millimeter-wave radar that "cannot see far or clearly."

This LiDAR product line represents the company's primary revenue source.

In 2023, this product generated revenue of 1.26 billion yuan, accounting for 92.2% of total revenue. The AT128 serves as the core product, with single-product shipments exceeding 150,000 units.

**Industry Evolution and Market Growth**

The LiDAR industry has progressed through three distinct phases:

• Scientific Research and Surveying Phase (around 2000): Primarily utilized for geographical mapping and scientific experiments.

• Autonomous Driving Emergence Phase (post-2010): Companies like Waymo pioneered LiDAR usage, establishing it as standard equipment for autonomous driving.

• Automotive-Grade Mass Production Phase (post-2020): With the proliferation of new energy vehicles and intelligent driving, LiDAR entered large-scale OEM integration.

The global automotive LiDAR market was valued at approximately $1.7 billion in 2023, with projections indicating growth to $6.8 billion by 2028, representing a compound annual growth rate of approximately 31%.

The primary growth driver stems from new energy vehicles, with the accelerated deployment of advanced driver assistance systems serving as the major demand catalyst.

Data reveals that China's penetration rate for new vehicles equipped with LiDAR exceeded 5% in 2023, with expectations to reach over 15% by 2025, signifying rapid market expansion.

International manufacturers like Velodyne and Luminar were early industry leaders but encountered bottlenecks in mass production and cost control. Conversely, Chinese manufacturers leveraged domestic advantages to secure three of the top five positions in global OEM shipment volume in 2023, with Hesai Group leading with a 47% global market share, followed closely by RoboSense and Tudatong.

Hesai Group's revenue increased from 1.22 billion yuan in 2022 to 1.36 billion yuan in 2023, while net losses decreased from 1.08 billion yuan to 970 million yuan. In the second quarter of this year, Hesai Group achieved revenue of 706 million yuan, representing 54% year-over-year growth, with net profit turning positive. Regarding delivery volume, total LiDAR deliveries in the first half of 2025 increased 276.2% year-over-year.

Notably, Hesai Group ranks among the few profitable autonomous driving companies.

This success primarily stems from order growth.

Throughout 2024, Hesai Group delivered nearly 502,000 LiDAR units, marking a 126% year-over-year increase and achieving delivery volume doubling for four consecutive years. ADAS LiDAR annual deliveries reached 456,400 units, with fourth-quarter deliveries alone totaling 193,238 ADAS LiDAR units, representing 140.3% year-over-year growth.

As of February 2025, Hesai Group has established mass production partnerships with 120 vehicle models from 22 domestic and international automakers, including 9 of China's top 10 automotive manufacturers by market capitalization (2024).

Secondly, success stems from effective cost control.

For instance, the ATX LiDAR developed based on fourth-generation chip architecture is expected to reach a price point of $200 in 2025, representing a 50% reduction compared to the previous generation. This enables product penetration into 100,000-yuan vehicle segments.

**Expanding Applications and Future Opportunities**

Beyond passenger vehicle autonomous driving, the autonomous driving sector has generated multiple opportunities in recent years, including robotics, intelligent transportation, and logistics unmanned vehicles. These emerging demands favor new market entrants, particularly in low-cost solid-state radar applications.

For example, in robotics applications, LiDAR is indispensable across logistics robots, delivery robots, and service robots.

Among the global top 10 L4 autonomous driving companies, Hesai Group's products cover 9 companies, providing critical technical support for autonomous navigation and obstacle avoidance functions for various robots operating in complex environments. As the robotics industry flourishes, market opportunities appear extremely promising.

In emerging markets such as intelligent security, smart cities, and surveying, LiDAR technology is also beginning to demonstrate its potential.