LiDAR Chip War: Who Will Laugh Last, AEVA or LAZR?

In the era of autonomous driving, LiDAR sensors have become a battlefield for competing forces. The two main forces AEVA and LAZR each have their own strategies:

AEVA's Approach: Real-time output speed and depth data based on FMCW technology for 4D LiDAR, not the traditional ToF solution. This year it has increased by 240%, mainly relying on industrial application expansion and collaboration with major clients—one Fortune 500 tech company has committed $50 million in investment (including $32.5 million in equity + $17.5 million in manufacturing support), aiming to become a Tier 2 supplier. Additionally, they have secured over 1,000 precision sensor orders, with a target to ramp up to 100,000 units by the end of the year. However, the valuation is inflated, with a price-to-sales ratio of 31.6 times, which somewhat overextends the future.

The Trap of LAZR: It has dropped by 31% this year, but it has plenty of cash on hand—resolving the liquidity crisis through the repurchase of convertible bonds and raising $200 million, holding a total cash of $400 million, with only $135 million in debt left. The core ace is the new platform Halo, which replaces the old Iris system with a single unified architecture, and the prototype is already in the hands of clients, with mass production expected by the end of 2026. The price-to-sales ratio is only 1.6 times, incredibly cheap. There are already real mass production cases like the Volvo EX90 and Caterpillar engineering vehicles.

Data Comparison: AEVA's EPS improved by 21.7% this year and 12.2% next year; LAZR is expected to rebound by 53.6% this year and 7.5% next year, with a larger bottom line recovery space.

In simple terms: AEVA is a high valuation and high growth newcomer, while LAZR is an undervalued veteran preparing for a rebound. Which one to choose depends on whether you believe in emerging vertical expansion or are betting on valuation recovery.