Hesai: 3 Key Takeaways for Long-Term Investors

On its third quarter 2026 earnings call, held on Nov. 10, 2026, Hesai (NASDAQ:HSAI) reported that non-automotive robotics businesses reached over 50% of total revenue. This expansion transforms the company from an automotive component supplier into a broader physical artificial intelligence infrastructure platform. Three key takeaways from management explain where the business is heading next.

1. Non-Automotive Revenue Exceeds Half of Total Sales

Fast-growing robotics applications and software tools are diversifying revenue away from legacy vehicle lines. Hesai's strategic growth initiatives, or SGI, generated 135 million Chinese yuan in nine months, exceeding its original full-year target.

Importantly, businesses beyond automotive lidar contributed more than 50% of our total revenues this quarter, reflecting our progress toward becoming a leading infrastructure platform for Robotics and Physical AI.
-- Andrew Fan, Chief Financial Officer

2. Actuation Hardware Ramps to Supply Humanoid Robots

Humanoid robots require dozens of specialized motion modules, creating a high-volume hardware market beyond optical sensors. Hesai designs core components in-house to capture market share as customer deployments expand.

In Q3, robotic actuation module shipments reached over 23,000 units, up 97% sequentially, bringing cumulative shipments to over 35,000 units.
-- David Li, Chief Executive Officer

3. ADAS Lidar Pricing Settles Into Rational Competition

Price competition in main light detection and ranging, or lidar, sensors is stabilizing following severe industry discounting. Multi-sensor configurations per vehicle help protect overall margin structures.

Based on the contracts we've already signed for next year, we expect pricing for our cost-efficient ATX lidar to stabilize further, supporting a relatively stable margin profile in 2027 compared with 2026.
-- Andrew Fan, Chief Financial Officer

Looking Ahead

Robotics demand is expanding faster than legacy automotive supply chains, supporting near-term gross margins close to 40%. Hesai retains an edge through in-house component integration, proprietary chips, and global manufacturing standards while tracking pricing discipline across emerging segments.

We maintain our expectation for SGI revenue to reach approximately USD 100 million or RMB 700 million in 2027, representing more than 10% of total revenue.
-- Andrew Fan, Chief Financial Officer

Long-term execution relies on shifting customer vehicle architectures toward multi-lidar arrays and establishing hardware standards across humanoid platforms.

Ultimately, we believe the robotics lidar market could be at least 10x the size of the ADAS lidar market.
-- Andrew Fan, Chief Financial Officer

The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.