Some investors in Singapore might never have heard of Horizon Robotics.
That may change.
With the listing of the Horizon Robotics HK SDR (1-to-1) on SGX, local investors can now access one of China’s most important autonomous driving chip companies – without having to trade the stock in an overseas exchange.
Understanding the Horizon Robotics SDR
The structure is straightforward: each Singapore Depository Receipts (SDR) represents one Class B ordinary share listed on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong, on a one-to-one basis.
This structure matters for two key reasons. First, accessibility. Investors can trade SDRs on the SGX without needing a brokerage account with HKEX access, navigating foreign stock exchange rules, or managing cross-border settlement arrangements. Local investors can operate in a familiar SGX ecosystem while accessing foreign companies and overseas listings.
Second, investors can trade these SDRs in SGD without needing to convert currencies. That said, SDRs are still subject to forex fluctuations, and currency conversion is factored into SDR prices. The convenience is that investors can hold their SDRs in SGD without thinking about conversions or having to handle them manually.
Legally, SDR holders receive beneficial ownership rather than direct legal title to the shares. The underlying shares are held by a custodian and are convertible to the underlying shares if investors prefer, by paying a fee. Investors are entitled to economic benefits such as dividends, which are converted into SGD and distributed after fees. However, SDR holders do not have voting rights. The instrument is therefore designed for investors seeking economic exposure rather than corporate governance participation.
With that structure in mind, the more important question becomes: what exactly are investors gaining exposure to with Horizon Robotics?
Horizon Robotics: China’s Autonomous Driving Engine Room
If Nvidia is the global headline name in AI chips, Horizon Robotics is building a localized automotive intelligence platform tailored to China’s rapidly evolving smart vehicle market.
Horizon operates as a Tier-2 supplier within the automotive value chain. It provides technology to Tier-1 suppliers and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), embedding its chips, algorithms, and software systems into vehicles. But Horizon is not simply a chip manufacturer. Its value proposition lies in delivering integrated intelligence – a tightly coupled combination of hardware and software designed specifically for assisted and autonomous driving applications.
Business Model
Horizon Robotics generates revenue through two primary models.
The first is its Solution Delivery Model (49.7% of 1H25 revenue). Under this model, the company provides integrated packages that combine proprietary AI algorithms, software stacks, and its self-developed Journey series processors. This constitutes a full-stack solution for assisted and autonomous driving, allowing OEMs to adopt a complete system rather than assemble separate components.
The second is its Licensing and Services Model (47.1% of 1H25 revenue). Here, Horizon licenses its algorithms, software toolkits, and development platforms to customers. This enables OEMs to build customized applications while benefiting from Horizon’s technical infrastructure. This model also tends to carry higher margins due to the service and software-heavy component.
A defining feature of Horizon’s strategy is its open platform ecosystem. Rather than operating a closed “black box” system, the company provides development tools such as OpenExplorer and AIDI, allowing partners to build on top of its stack. This openness encourages collaboration, enhances customer stickiness, and accelerates iteration cycles. The approach resembles an Android-style ecosystem for vehicles rather than a tightly controlled, vertically sealed architecture.
From ADAS to Urban Autonomy
Horizon’s technology portfolio spans the automation spectrum, from advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) to more advanced autonomous capabilities. The technology itself falls under solutions revenue line when it is sold as an integrated package with Horizon’s processing hardware (Journey chips). However, if Horizon is licensing its algorithms and software, it will be under License and Service Model.
Horizon Mono is an active safety ADAS system that achieved the highest market share among Chinese OEMs by 2024. It represents the company’s early leadership in the assisted driving segment.
Horizon Pilot enables Highway Navigate on Autopilot (NOA) functionality and has emerged as a major growth driver. As consumer demand shifts toward higher levels of automation, this segment is expanding rapidly.
The next stage is Horizon SuperDrive (HSD), designed to integrate urban, highway, and parking scenarios into a unified system. The platform is capable of Level 4 functionality and has entered production in the second half of 2025. Volkswagen and Chery have adopted HSD in some of their models thus far. More than 10 automakers, covering more than 20 models in China are expected to adopt HSD.
Underlying these solutions is the Journey series of AI processors. The Journey 6 series, launched in 2024, supports advanced assisted driving features. By August 2025, cumulative shipments of Journey chips exceeded 10 million units. In the automotive industry, where qualification cycles are lengthy and reliability standards are stringent, scale is a powerful signal of trust and validation.
Competitors
The competitive landscape is both technologically demanding and geopolitically complex.
Globally, Horizon faces competition from established players such as Nvidia, which dominates high-performance automotive AI compute; Mobileye (Intel), a leader in ADAS penetration worldwide; and Qualcomm, which is expanding aggressively into automotive platforms.
Domestically, competition comes from companies such as Black Sesame Technologies and SemiDrive, as well as OEMs developing in-house solutions, including BYD, XPeng, and systems backed by Huawei.
The intensity of competition reflects the strategic importance of automotive intelligence. Autonomous driving is no longer a niche feature; it is becoming a central battleground for semiconductor capability and national technology ecosystems.
Horizon Robotics seeks to mitigate this competition by supporting OEMs’ in-house solutions. They provide chips for OEMs to build on. BYD, have been a favourable example, for their partnership to access Horizon’s varying solutions.
Horizon’s Competitive Advantages
Despite strong competition, Horizon Robotics possesses several structural advantages.
First, deep localization within China. The company is embedded across the domestic automotive landscape and serves all top ten Chinese carmakers. In an environment where supply chain resilience and domestic semiconductor capability are increasingly prioritized, this positioning is strategically significant.
Second, software–hardware co-optimization. Unlike competitors that focus primarily on chips, Horizon designs its algorithms and processors together. This integration improves latency, enhances power efficiency, and supports cost control – all critical factors in automotive applications, where thermal limits, battery performance, and price sensitivity are decisive.
Third, market share leadership. As of the first half of 2025, Horizon held a 35.9% share among Chinese OEMs for ADAS solutions. Scale reinforces itself: greater deployment generates more driving data, which improves algorithms, which enhances performance and strengthens competitive positioning. Its top 2 largest competitors are likely Mobileye (26.9%) and Renesas (17.7%) respectively.
Fourth, strategic joint ventures. The CARIZON joint venture with Volkswagen anchors Horizon within global OEM platforms and provides international validation of its technology stack.
Financial Profile: Scaling Through Investment
Horizon Robotics has delivered strong revenue growth while remaining operationally loss-making, reflecting heavy investment in research and development.
1H2025 Snapshot
- Revenue: RMB 1.57bn (+67.6% YoY)
- Gross Margin: 65.4%
- Operating Loss: RMB 1.59bn (driven by heavy R&D investment)
Bigger Picture
- Revenue grew from RMB 467m (2021) to RMB 2.38bn (2024)
- Not yet operationally profitable (2024 net profit was non-operating)
This financial profile reflects a classic deep-technology scaling model: substantial upfront investment, platform building, and long-term positioning over near-term earnings.
Why 2025 Could Be a Turning Point
Management views 2025 as a potential inflection year. The anticipated mass production of Horizon SuperDrive, the expansion of urban assisted driving into the RMB 150,000 vehicle segment, partnerships with robotaxi operators, and international design wins – including Japanese OEMs and global lifecycle volumes exceeding 7.5 million units – could significantly broaden the company’s addressable market.
If successfully executed, Horizon may transition from an ADAS leader to a foundational provider of full-stack autonomous driving infrastructure. Such a shift would materially alter its strategic positioning and valuation narrative.
Horizon’s share price has performed well and tracked the China stock market recovery, gaining 43% over the past year.
The Broader Investment Question
Autonomous driving is not merely a software feature. It is a semiconductor, data, and ecosystem competition unfolding at scale. The companies that prevail will not only write sophisticated code; they will deploy integrated intelligence across millions of vehicles.
Horizon Robotics has already surpassed 10 million chip shipments. The critical question for investors is not whether smart vehicles will proliferate. It is whether Horizon can establish itself as the foundational compute layer of China’s intelligent automotive ecosystem.
The SGX SDR simply makes participating in that question more accessible.
This post is sponsored by SGX. The views expressed are solely those of the author.
