Published in Transportation

Chipzilla to make its self-driving car unit public

by on07 December 2021


Mobileye plans IPO 

Intel is planning to make its self-driving-car unit Mobileye a public company in the middle of next year -- an IPO which could value the Israeli unit at more than $50 billion

Chipzilla expects to retain Mobileye's executive team and hold on to majority ownership in the unit after the initial public offering (IPO) of newly issued Mobileye stock.

Intel has no intention to divest or spin off its majority ownership in Mobileye and it will continue to provide technical resources to the automaker.

Mobileye Chief Executive Officer Amnon Shashua said in a release the outfit provides Intel with a strong revenue stream and Intel CEO Kicking Pat Gelsinger said an IPO provides the best opportunity to build on Mobileye's track record for innovation and unlock value for shareholders,

Gelsinger has been under pressure from activist investors such as Third Point LLC to consider spinning off its costly chip manufacturing operations, even as the company has looked to expand its advanced chip manufacturing capacity in the United States and Europe amid a global semiconductor shortage. 

Intel bought Mobileye for $15.3 billion in 2017, putting it into direct competition with rivals Nvidia and Qualcomm to develop driverless systems for global automakers.

Mobileye, founded in 1999, has taken a different strategy from many of its self-driving car competitors, with a current camera-based system that helps cars with adaptive cruise control and lane change assistance. read more

The company plans to eventually build its own "lidar" sensor to help its cars map out a three-dimensional view of the road and is using lidar units from Luminar Technologies (LAZR.O) on its initial robotaxis in the meantime.

Mobileye has never used Intel's factories to make its chips, instead relying on TSMC for all of its "EyeQ" chips.

 

Last modified on 07 December 2021
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