China and global high-computing power SoC shipments are expected to continue to increase significantly in the coming years.

This article is originally written by Stone Jin for IPOzaozhidao's WeChat public account (ipozaozhidao). According to IPOzaozhidao, Black Sesame Technology International Holdings Limited (hereinafter referred to as "Black Sesame Technology") recently passed the Hong Kong Stock Exchange hearing and disclosed the post-hearing information set on June 12, 2024, aiming to list on the main board. CICC and Huatai International served as joint sponsors.

This means that Black Sesame Technology may soon become the "first domestic autonomous driving chip stock".

Founded in 2016, Black Sesame Technology, as a supplier of automotive-grade computing SoC and SoC-based intelligent automotive solutions, has designed two series of automotive-grade SoCs: the Huashan series of high-computing power SoCs and the Wudang series of cross-domain SoCs. The SoC-based intelligent automotive solutions integrate IP core SoCs, middleware, and toolchains integrated with algorithms and support software of ISP and NPU independently developed by Black Sesame Technology to meet a wide range of customer needs.

Among them, the Huashan series of high-computing power SoCs focused on autonomous driving applications has achieved commercialization. In 2022, the Huashan A1000 series began mass production and delivered over 25,000 units, ranking among the top three global automotive-grade high-computing power SoC suppliers. As of December 31, 2023, the total shipments of the Huashan A1000 series SoC exceeded 152,000 units.

According to the prospectus, for L3 and above, Black Sesame Technology is developing and designing the A2000 with a computing power of 250+ TOPS. According to Frost & Sullivan, this is one of the highest-performing automotive-grade SoCs in the world. In fact, the Wudang series of cross-domain SoCs released by Black Sesame Technology in April 2023 was the industry's first product to integrate autonomous driving, intelligent cabins, body control, and other computing domains.

Reflecting on commercialization achievements, Black Sesame Technology's customer base has grown from 45 as of December 31, 2021, to 85 as of December 31, 2023. As of June 4, 2024, Black Sesame Technology has cooperated with over 49 automotive OEMs and tier-one suppliers, including FAW Group, Dongfeng Group, JAC Group, Hechuang, ECARX, Baidu, Bosch, ZF, Magneti Marelli, and others. As of the same date, Black Sesame Technology has obtained intent orders for 23 models from 16 automotive OEMs and tier-one suppliers.

According to Frost & Sullivan, the global and Chinese automotive-grade SoC market sizes are expected to increase by 36.5% and 42.6%, respectively, in 2024, and it is expected that the shipments of high-computing power SoCs in China and globally will increase significantly in the coming years. In other words, the incremental space in the market segment where Black Sesame Technology operates is still quite considerable.

In terms of financial data, from 2021 to 2023, Black Sesame Technology's revenue was 61 million yuan, 165 million yuan, and 312 million yuan, respectively.

At the same time, Black Sesame Technology continues to invest heavily in R&D. As of December 31, 2023, Black Sesame Technology's R&D team consisted of 950 members, accounting for 86.7% of the total number of employees. From 2021 to 2023, Black Sesame Technology's R&D expenditures were 595 million yuan, 764 million yuan, and 1.363 billion yuan, respectively, accounting for 78.7%, 69.4%, and 74.0% of the total operating expenditures for that year.

Since its establishment, Black Sesame Technology has received investments from well-known VCs and industrial capital such as Northern Light Venture Capital, SAIC Motor, China Merchants Venture Capital, Hisong Capital, Tencent, Boyuan Capital, Dongfeng Motor Group, Xiaomi Changjiang Industrial Fund, NIO Capital, Geely, Wuyuefeng Capital, BOC Investment, SDIC Venture Capital, and Lenovo Capital.

Black Sesame Technology stated in its prospectus that approximately 80% of the net proceeds from the IPO will be used for R&D (including developing the R&D team for intelligent automotive automotive-grade SoCs, developing and upgrading intelligent automotive software platforms, procuring materials, tape-out services, and software for the R&D of intelligent automotive SoCs and automotive-grade IP cores, and developing autonomous driving solutions); approximately 10% will be used to enhance commercialization capabilities; and approximately 10% will be used for working capital and general corporate purposes.

This article is originally written by the public account IPOzaozhidao (ID: ipozaozhidao). For reprints, please contact Uncle C ↓↓↓