A new opportunity in lighting? Huawei makes an "official announcement" involving lighting

On November 25, Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Huawei") and Chongqing Changan Automobile Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Changan Automobile") signed the "Memorandum of Understanding on Investment Cooperation".

Image source: Huawei official website

Following mutual consultation, Huawei plans to establish a company engaged in the R&D, design, production, sales, and service of automotive intelligent systems and component solutions (hereinafter referred to as the "Target Company"). Changan Automobile intends to invest in the Target Company and carry out strategic cooperation. Both parties will jointly support the Target Company in becoming an industry leader in automotive intelligent systems and component solutions, based in China, oriented towards the global market, and serving the Industry.

According to the memorandum, the target company's specific business scope includes: automotive intelligent driving solutions, smart cockpits, digital platforms for smart vehicles, intelligent vehicle cloud services, AR-HUD, and smart vehicle lighting, among others. Huawei plans to integrate the core technologies and resources of its smart vehicle solutions business into the target company.

In this transaction, Changan Automobile and its affiliates intend to invest to acquire no more than a 40% equity stake in the target company. The specific equity percentage, investment amount, and term will be negotiated separately by both parties.

With the establishment of this new company, Huawei is expected to accelerate the integration of automotive optical lighting and display technologies, including AR-HUD, intelligent headlights, and smart cockpits, into OEMs, thereby speeding up the development of its smart vehicle Solution business.

It is worth noting that while accelerating cooperation with downstream vehicle manufacturers, Huawei has also been collaborating with mid- and upstream LED enterprises in recent years, to enhance its technical capabilities in automotive displays and automotive lighting. Previously, Huawei has partnered with LED-related companies such as Xingyu Automotive Lighting Systems, NationStar Optoelectronics, and Foryou Corporation, promoting innovation and R&D in technologies such as intelligent headlamp manufacturing, automotive HUDs, Mini & Micro LED, smart Healthy lighting, and non-visual light sources.

By continuously advancing its automotive optical business, Huawei launched multiple new automotive optical products this year, including the head-up display product HUAWEI x HUD AR-HUD, the intelligent headlight solution HUAWEI x PIXEL, and the HUAWEI x SCENE light field screen. Among them, the head-up display product uses tri-color LED as the light source, achieving an eye-box luminance of 12,000 nits.

This announcement has caused a stir across various sectors. Has Huawei, by shifting its focus to the automotive and lighting industries, also set a new trend?Recently, many lighting-related companies have been moving closer to the automotive industry.

On November 21, Sunray Technology released the "Announcement on Joint Investment with Related Parties to Establish a Company and Related Party Transactions," announcing a joint investment of RMB 100 million with related parties to establish Anhui Ruilong Automotive Electronics Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Ruilong Electronics).Sunray Technology stated that the purpose of this joint investment with related parties to establish a joint venture is to leverage industry / supply chain resource integration, enhance the manufacturer's supply chain tier, accelerate the growth and volume of the company's automotive display business, improve overall competitiveness and profitability, and achieve sustainable development. Of course, there are certain market risks and operational risks during the cooperation process. The company will closely monitor the subsequent progress of the joint venture's business, actively prevent and respond to risks, in order to obtain good investment returns.

On November 20, according to the official WeChat account of Nationstar Optoelectronics, the Board of Directors of Nationstar Optoelectronics recently reviewed and approved the "Proposal on Establishing an Automotive LED Business Unit," officially establishing the Automotive LED Business Unit.

As a leading enterprise in the domestic LED packaging industry, NationStar Optoelectronics possesses strong R&D and manufacturing capabilities for LED lighting, LED displays, and related application products. In the automotive LED sector, NationStar Optoelectronics has formed a rich matrix of automotive LED products, covering various interior and exterior LED light source products, and has successfully entered the supply chains of many well-known automobile manufacturers. In the field of automotive displays, the company has developed Mini POB and Mini COB technology backlight solutions for automotive display screens, and has corresponding product layouts for automotive head-up displays, providing professional technical solutions according to customer needs.

In addition, Foshan Lighting is vigorously expanding its automotive lighting business for new energy vehicles. Its subsidiary, Nanning Liaowang, supplies relevant lighting products for the updated AITO M7 model.

These lighting-related companies are investing in automotive lighting and in-vehicle display sectors. Does this signal a transformation path for lighting enterprises? Let's wait and see.

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