Hesai Revenue Jumps 34% as Lidar Shipments Surge 65%

Chinese lidar maker Hesai Group posted a 34.3% rise in third-quarter revenue as shipments of its laser sensors for cars and robots climbed 65%, the company reported on Tuesday. Net revenues reached RMB1.07 billion (US$159.3 million), up from RMB795.4 million a year earlier.

The Shanghai-based company delivered 729,673 lidar units in the quarter, compared with 441,398 a year earlier. Of these, 638,055 went to advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS), up 67.6%, while robotics lidar shipments rose 51.1% to 91,618 units.

Profit falls on one-off base

Net income fell 68.5% to RMB80.8 million (US$12.1 million) from RMB256.2 million. Hesai said the year-earlier figure included RMB185.1 million of one-time income from disposing of an equity investment and transferring intellectual property. Non-GAAP net income, which excludes share-based compensation, declined 58.6% to RMB119.0 million.

Gross margin narrowed to 41.0% from 42.1%, which the company attributed to a larger share of lower-margin products. Research and development spending rose 27.8% to RMB254.0 million. Chief Financial Officer Andrew Fan said the quarter marked Hesai’s sixth consecutive quarter of GAAP profitability.

The company held cash reserves of RMB6.98 billion (US$1.04 billion) at the end of September.

Carmaker and robot deals

Hesai said it held 43% of China’s long-range ADAS lidar market in September, citing data from Gasgoo, ranking first for a 20th straight month. It said its premium ET-series lidar has won programmes with five carmakers, including Cadillac, Geely, Great Wall Motor and an unnamed top European automaker, with a combined order book of more than one million units.

The company also highlighted a partnership with JD.com covering plans to deploy more than four million robots, robovans and other machines over five years. Chief Executive Officer David Li described the quarter as a step in Hesai’s shift towards a “full-stack infrastructure platform for Robotics and Physical AI”.

Revenue from its SGI segment was RMB90.5 million in the quarter. Fan said the unit was scaling ahead of plan, with nine-month revenue already above its original full-year target, and the company reaffirmed its 2026 SGI revenue guidance of RMB200 million to RMB300 million. Hesai also shipped 23,405 robotic actuation modules, nearly double the previous quarter.

What’s next

Hesai expects fourth-quarter net revenues of between RMB1.10 billion (US$164 million) and RMB1.15 billion (US$172 million), a forecast it said is based on preliminary estimates and subject to change. The company said annual shipments of its robotic actuation modules are expected to reach six digits in 2027.

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