Intel plans to take Mobileye public in the United States in mid-2022 via an initial public offering (IPO) of newly issued Mobileye stock.
Intel will remain the majority owner of Mobileye, and the two companies will continue as strategic partners, collaborating on projects as they pursue the growth of computing in the automotive sector.
Mobileye focuses on advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) and self-driving solutions. In 2021, Mobileye shipped its 100 millionth EyeQ system-on-chip (SoC), scaled autonomous vehicle (AV) test programs across multiple cities around the world covering the U.S., Europe and Asia, unveiled its production robotaxi, and secured 41 new ADAS program wins across more than 30 automakers globally. New program wins range from core driver-assistance technology through next-generation driver-assistance and full self-driving systems. The company has also secured multiple deals for mobility-as-a-service (MaaS) programs starting in 2023, as well as consumer and business-to-business vehicle production designs for Mobileye’s self-driving system starting in 2024.
Intel said the move will unlock the value of Mobileye for Intel shareholders.
“Intel’s acquisition of Mobileye has been a great success. Mobileye has achieved record revenue year-over-year with 2021 gains expected to be more than 40 percent higher than 2020, highlighting the powerful benefits to both companies of our ongoing partnership,” Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger said. “Amnon and I determined that an IPO provides the best opportunity to build on Mobileye’s track record for innovation and unlock value for shareholders.”
Mobileye went public in 2014; it was acquired by Intel in 2017. Intel currently owns 100% of Mobileye shares and is expected to retain majority ownership following the completion of the IPO.
Intel eyes automotive silicon expansion
Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger predicts the “digitization of everything” will push the share of semiconductors in the total new premium vehicle bill of materials (BOM) to more than 20% by 2030 – up more than 5X from 4% in 2019. The company forecasts the total addressable market (TAM) for automotive silicon will more than double by the end of the decade to $115 billion – approximately 11% of the entire silicon market.2
In pursuit of this opportunity, Intel announced plans to build new chip manufacturing facilities in Europe, establish committed foundry capacity at its Ireland site, and launch the Intel Foundry Services Accelerator to help foundry customers move automotive designs to advanced nodes.
In addition, Intel's Mobileye division unveiled the first production AV equipped with the Mobileye Drive self-driving system and bearing the MoovitAV services branding. Mobileye is working with Sixt to bring autonomous ride-hailing into operation with Munich-based Sixt SE starting in 2022.
Intel leverages silicon photonics for Mobileye's lidar system-on-chip
Mobileye, a division of Intel, unveiled a new silicon photonics processor for frequency-modulated continuous wave (FMCW) lidar. The new device, which was engineered at Intel’s silicon photonics fab in New Mexico, is expected to be in production by 2025.
Mobileye envisions that AVs will use both radio- and light-based detection-and-ranging sensing.
The new software-defined imaging radar technology with 2304 channels, 100DB dynamic range and 40 DBc side lobe level that together enable the radar to build a sensing state good enough for driving policy supporting autonomous driving.
“This is really game-changing. And we call this a photonic integrated circuit, PIC. It has 184 vertical lines, and then those vertical lines are moved through optics. Having fabs that are able to do that, that’s very, very rare. So this gives Intel a significant advantage in building these lidars,” stated Mobileye president and chief executive officer Amnon Shashua.
