Intel intends to take public its autonomous vehicle (AV) business called Mobileye in mid-2022 through an initial public offering, another indication of the fantastic financial interest in the next-generation vehicle sector.
Mobileye, based in Israel, will still be majority-owned by Intel and the Mobileye executive team will remain in place with Prof. Amnon Shashua staying on as the Mobileye CEO, Intel said late Monday. The value of the company could reach above $50 billion under the IPO, according to sources that spoke to the Wall Street Journal. IPOs have been wildly popular for tech companies in 2021, and investors have rallied.
Intel’s recent Moovit acquisition and Intel teams working on lidar and radar and other Mobileye projects will become part of Mobileye. Mobileye makes the EyeQ system-on-chip of which 100 million have shipped. EyeQ is now in its fifth generation, which is able to support fully autonomous level 5 vehicles, according to Intel.
It is a 10 watt SoC built on 7 nm FinFET technology providing 24 trillion operations per second and enabling a vision central computer atop of prior generation functions such as vehicle detection from any angle, mapping and lane detection and other features.
The company has also unveiled a production robotaxi and recently launched AV testing in major cities, including New York. More than 30 global automakers work with Mobileye on 41 different advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS). Some of the work with automakers includes full self-driving systems.
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Shashua said in a statement that co-development with Intel means they will “continue to deliver great platform solutions for customers.”
Mobileye was founded in 1991 and went public in 2014 and was then acquired by Intel in 2017 for about $15 billion. Intel owns 100% of Mobileye shares and expects to retain majority ownership following completion of an IPO. A final decision on the IPO and its timing is pending.
While Mobileye revenues are small compared to Intel’s overall portfolio, the company has achieved record revenues each year and is expected to see a 40% bump in 2021 over the prior year. “An IPO provides the best opportunity to build on Mobileye’s track record for innovation and unlock value for shareholders,” Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger said in a statement.
Intel’s fourth quarter and full year earnings call is scheduled for Jan. 26, but third quarter revenues reported Oct. 21 were $19.19 billion while Mobileye generated $326 million of that total.
Intel indicated a big reason for the IPO plans by noting the growth in the semiconductors used in vehicles. In 2030, chips will account for fully 20% of a vehicles bill of materials up from less than 5% today, according to analyst projections and Intel.
“Intel will continue to support Mobileye with technical resources to deliver industry-leading sensor technologies while Mobileye’s strength in the automotive sector will continue to enable Intel to address the automotive sector’s fast-growing BOM opportunity,” Intel said in a statement. In turn, Intel will offer its global supply chain, manufacturing and expertise in radar, lidar and software.
The Intel announcement of the Mobileye IPO intent caused a 9 % surge in Intel shares overnight, reaching $50.99.