Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.China\u2019s biggest maker of the laser sensors used in self-driving cars plans to open its first overseas plant next year as customers urge it to shield itself from geopolitical tensions.Shanghai-based Hesai, already embroiled in fighting a blacklisting by the Pentagon, is looking to build production lines abroad in addition to its China factories to \u201cavoid risks related to geopolitics and tariffs\u201d, chief financial officer Andrew Fan told the Financial Times in an interview.\u00a0\u201cOur clients who are hoping to diffuse the risks have found it a wise approach,\u201d Fan said, adding that a diversified supply chain could also hedge potential logistics disruptions.Hesai is the leading provider of lidar systems, which use pulsed laser light to help autonomous vehicles generate a three-dimensional map of the surrounding environment.\u00a0The company drew global attention after the US defence department included it on a list of \u201cChinese military companies\u201d last year and later removed it after Hesai began legal proceedings. It was reinstated on the list last October, prompting further legal action. Fan called the Pentagon\u2019s decision a \u201cmisunderstanding\u201d of the start-up\u2019s business. The company is suing, stating that its products are strictly for commercial and civilian use.\u00a0While the Pentagon blacklisting had \u201cvery limited\u201d legal strength, it forced Hesai\u2019s prospective investors and clients to \u201cthink twice\u201d before buying the company\u2019s stock and products, Fan said.\u00a0The Biden administration had banned imports and sales of connected vehicles with Chinese software and hardware over concerns the technology could be a national security threat, and President Donald Trump has stepped up tariffs on China.Despite the geopolitical threat, Fan expressed confidence that a recently secured contract with a European automaker could allow the company to install its devices in autonomous vehicles on the road in Europe and the US.Reuters reported on Tuesday that the customer was Mercedes-Benz and it was the first time a foreign automaker had sought to use such Chinese-made technology for models sold outside China.\u201cOn the heels of the global supply programme, we hope to accelerate our overseas production\u2009.\u2009.\u2009.\u2009which is an inescapable step toward our global ambitions,\u201d said Fan.Hesai will break ground by the end of the year on its first overseas project, with a goal of production in 2026 and creating \u201chundreds of jobs locally\u201d, he said, while refusing to disclose the location.\u00a0Shares in Hesai soared 50 per cent higher in the US on Tuesday after the company said it broke even for the first time in 2024, becoming the world\u2019s first profitable listed lidar maker.\u00a0Management predicted an adjusted net profit ranging from Rmb350mn to Rmb500mn ($48mn to $69mn) for 2025, significantly ahead of the Rmb189mn consensus estimate of analysts polled by Bloomberg.In contrast to retrenchment by US competitors such as Luminar and Innoviz, Chinese lidar start-ups have been riding the momentum of China\u2019s rise as a global leader in electric vehicle manufacturing.\u00a0Chinese suppliers held a 65 per cent share of the global lidar market in 2024 and are \u201cwell-positioned to maintain this position\u201d due to strong demand from local carmakers, according to S&P Global Mobility.\u00a0Their products are about half the price of US rivals, said Ming Hsun Lee, auto analyst at Bank of America. \u201c2025 will be a \u2018take-off\u2019 year for lidar adoption in the China market,\u201d Goldman Sachs analysts wrote in a research note. \u201cMore models are adopting lidar as a standard feature.\u201dFan said: \u201cMore and more people are embracing the idea that lidars are safety belts and airbags in the smart driving age.\u201d Hesai has also worked to diversify its client portfolio beyond self-driving vehicle makers, seeking partnerships with a wide range of industrial companies. It is supplying lidars to China\u2019s humanoid robot start-up Unitree and robot lawnmower manufacturer Mova.Additional reporting by Edward White in Shanghai<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.China\u2019s biggest maker of the laser sensors used in self-driving cars plans to open its first overseas plant next year as customers urge it to shield<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-242526","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-tech"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242526","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=242526"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242526\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=242526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=242526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}