New stock preview | AUDIOWELL's secondary listing in Hong Kong: as a leader in the smart sensor track, how to cross the industry "red sea"?

From the self-alerting robotic arms in smart factories to the "Eyes of Fire" on autonomous driving cars, the source of all these intelligent scenarios cannot do without tiny "perception neurons" - intelligent sensors. With the wave of 5G and AIoT sweeping through various industries, intelligent sensors, as the cornerstone of industrial intelligence, are entering a period of rapid growth. Recently, Guangdong AUDIOWELL Sensor Technology Co., Ltd. (920491.BJ) (hereinafter referred to as "AUDIOWELL"), which has been deeply rooted in this field for more than twenty years, has initiated a secondary listing in Hong Kong, aiming to leverage the power of the capital market to seize a favorable position in this "battle of perception". Stable revenue growth, concentrated business structure According to the prospectus, AUDIOWELL is a provider of intelligent sensor and precision execution solutions, covering fields such as smart homes, smart cars, smart terminals, and smart manufacturing. It adopts the IDM (Integrated Device Manufacturing) model, achieving vertical integration from sensitive materials, transducer chips, algorithms to precision manufacturing, and building an autonomous and controllable technological chain. The company mainly provides various customized sensors, precision micro actuators, and related module products. According to a Frost & Sullivan report, by 2024, the company ranks among the top in multiple market statistics: ranking second in revenue from smart home sensors in China; ranking third globally in shipments of automotive ultrasonic sensors and actuators; ranking fifth in sensor shipments in the Chinese market; and ranking third in automotive sensor shipments in China. In addition, the company has achieved mass production of the new generation AKII automotive ultrasonic sensor, which can support ADAS/AVP functions, making it one of the first companies in China to achieve mass production of such sensors. Based on its product layout and technological integration capabilities, the company is committed to expanding market applications in various scenarios where artificial intelligence interacts with the physical world. In terms of performance, the company's revenue has maintained rapid growth. In 2022, 2023, and 2024, AUDIOWELL's revenue was 378 million yuan, 467 million yuan, and 617 million yuan, respectively, with a compound annual growth rate of 27.8%. In detail, AUDIOWELL is currently focusing on four core solution scenarios: smart home solutions, smart car solutions, smart terminal solutions, and smart manufacturing solutions. Among them, smart home and smart car solutions constitute the current business foundation. In terms of revenue structure, from 2022 to 2024, revenue from smart home solutions continued to grow, increasing from 200 million yuan to 344 million yuan, with the proportion of total revenue increasing from 53.0% to 55.7%, making it the largest source of revenue for the company. At the same time, revenue from smart car solutions also steadily increased, from 162 million yuan to 256 million yuan, with a proportion maintained above 41%, making it the second-largest revenue pillar. Revenue from smart terminal and smart manufacturing solutions is relatively small and still in the early development stage. By the first half of 2025, revenue from smart home solutions reached 186 million yuan, further increasing its proportion to 56.9% of total revenue, maintaining its dominant position; revenue from smart car solutions was 125 million yuan, accounting for 38.3%, although slightly decreasing but still an important part of the company's revenue. In addition, revenue from other business segments fluctuated slightly, with the overall revenue structure still dominated by smart home and smart car solutions, demonstrating the company's deep layout and market competitiveness in the field of smart hardware. While revenue is steadily growing, the company's profitability is somewhat volatile. In 2022, 2023, and 2024, AUDIOWELL's gross profit margin was 34.9%, 38.0%, and 34.8%, respectively. The company attributes the fluctuations in overall gross profit margin mainly to the intensified competition in the domestic automotive and parts supply chain. However, benefiting from the growth in revenue scale, the company's net profit also maintained a growth trend during the year, with profits of 52.618 million yuan, 76.978 million yuan, and 93.951 million yuan in 2022, 2023, and 2024, respectively. Broad market prospects, diversified competitive landscape In terms of industry, sensors and actuators as the core of the "perceive-decide-act" closed loop, the market outlook continues to be positive. In recent years, the global and Chinese sensor markets have continued to grow, with the market size expanding from approximately $189.1 billion and 292.9 billion yuan in 2020 to $237.1 billion and 398.3 billion yuan by 2024, with compound annual growth rates of approximately 5.8% and 8.0%, respectively. During the same period, the global and Chinese actuator markets have also grown from $262.1 billion and 394.5 billion yuan to $320.5 billion and 499.1 billion yuan by 2024, with compound annual growth rates of approximately 5.2% and 6.1%, respectively. It is expected that by 2029, the combined global market size for sensors and actuators will reach $703.6 billion and 1.2096 trillion yuan. In the field of smart homes, sensors and actuators are the core components of achieving automation functions. In 2024, the market sizes for sensors in smart home products and actuators in smart home products were approximately $23 billion and $45.9 billion globally. The Chinese market size is also significant, with market sizes reaching approximately 44.9 billion yuan and 86.5 billion yuan in the same year. With smart functions continuously integrating into residential environments, as well as the development of connectivity, energy efficiency, and user-centric automation technology in the Internet of Things, by 2029, the global and Chinese markets for sensors and actuators supplying smart home products are expected to reach approximately $87.9 billion and 195.6 billion yuan. The automotive sector is another important market. In 2024, the global market sizes for automotive-specific sensors and automotive-specific actuators reached approximately $45.7 billion and $40.6 billion, reflecting compound annual growth rates of approximately 6.2% and 4.1% from 2020 to 2024. The market sizes for Chinese automotive-specific sensors and actuators reached approximately 89.5 billion yuan and 86.7 billion yuan in the same year, with corresponding compound annual growth rates of approximately 11.0% and 5.8%. With the popularity of new energy vehicles and the development of autonomous driving technology, the demand for vehicle sensors and actuators continues to rise. Ultrasonic sensors play an irreplaceable role in short-distance detection, with global and Chinese market sizes of approximately $7.2 billion and 13.4 billion yuan in 2024, expected to grow to $11.3 billion and 22.6 billion yuan by 2029. It is estimated that by 2029, the global and Chinese markets for automotive-specific sensors and actuators will reach approximately $108.9 billion and 247.7 billion yuan. In terms of market competition, the sensor market is highly competitive and highly fragmented. According to Frost & Sullivan data, in 2024, based on global sensor shipments, the market share of the top five sensor suppliers in China was only about 5.4%. Although the company ranks fifth in the industry, its market share is only 0.1%. Overall, AUDIOWELL has established its competitive barriers in the critical race of sensors and actuators in the smart era, leveraging its solid layout in the fields of smart homes and smart cars, the full-chain technological capabilities under the IDM model, and leading rankings in various segmented markets. Facing the vast and continuously growing market prospects, its secondary listing in Hong Kong is not only a strategic move to seek capital assistance to consolidate advantages but also a crucial step in deepening technological research and development, expanding diverse application scenarios, and seizing structural opportunities under the AIoT wave. However, the highly fragmented industry and intensified competition leading to profit fluctuations also indicate that the company needs to continue to refine its efforts between scale expansion and technological leadership. In the future, whether AUDIOWELL can more fully translate its technological accumulation and market position into sustained, robust profitability and long-term value will be the key to its victory in the "battle of perception".