Just six months after its previous application, Shenzhen Huada Beidou Technology Co., Ltd., a domestic satellite navigation and positioning chip design company, has once again launched an assault on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
In June of last year, Huada Beidou had submitted an application to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, with CMB International and Ping An Securities acting as joint sponsors, but that application has since lapsed. The updated prospectus supplements financial data for the first half of 2025, showing revenue of 4.03 billion yuan, a 20% year-on-year increase; however, the net loss widened by 16% to 64 million yuan.
Huada Beidou boasts an illustrious origin. The company was spun off from the navigation chip design business under China Electronics Corporation (CEC) and has attracted a formidable lineup of industrial and financial backers, including China Electronics Optics Valley, SAIC Capital, BYD, Gree Capital, and even Bosch Ventures.
How is a single Beidou high-precision positioning chip applied in real-world scenarios?
A critical step in the application of the company's chips lies in the shared bicycle sector, where its chips account for over 60% of the total Chinese shared bicycle market, covering mainstream platforms such as Meituan, Qingju, and Hello.
Following this trajectory, Huada Beidou has already applied its GNSS chips to electric bicycles, which are expected to become a primary revenue source in the coming years.
Looking ahead, Huada Beidou is placing significant bets on two major growth avenues: intelligent driving and the low-altitude economy.
The journey of technological implementation began in the mass consumer sector.
Huada Beidou pioneered the integration of Beidou high-precision positioning chips into shared bicycles in Shenzhen, enabling management functions like in-pen settlement and precise parking. This marked the large-scale popularization of positioning applications based on the autonomous Beidou system. Its mass-produced 8040 chip is recognized as the first Beidou chip to achieve high-precision positioning in the mass consumer market.
According to China Insights Consultancy, in 2024, based on shipment volume, Huada Beidou was the world's sixth-largest GNSS positioning service provider, holding a 4.8% global market share and ranking second among mainland Chinese companies. Its shipments of dual-frequency high-precision RF baseband integrated chips and modules ranked fourth globally and first among domestic manufacturers, capturing a 10.5% market share.
Particularly in its flagship shared bicycle segment, Huada Beidou's chips command over 60% of the Chinese market share, serving major platforms like Meituan, Qingju, and Hello.
However, this technological prowess and market position have not yet translated into a profitable business model. For the years 2022, 2023, 2024, and the first half of 2025, Huada Beidou reported net losses of 93 million yuan, 289 million yuan, 141 million yuan, and 64 million yuan, respectively. Cumulative net losses over the past three and a half years amount to 588 million yuan.
Huada Beidou explains that in the satellite navigation and positioning service industry, GNSS chip design companies typically incur substantial R&D costs. The company's historical losses are primarily attributed to a failure to achieve economies of scale and significant upfront R&D investments made to build long-term competitiveness. Over the past three years, its cumulative R&D expenditure exceeded 330 million yuan, consistently accounting for more than 14% of its revenue.
In terms of business composition, data shows that approximately 70% of Huada Beidou's revenue comes from its "Comprehensive Chips and Modules Business," which involves the distribution of third-party chips and has long maintained a gross margin hovering around 3%. The higher-margin (26%) self-developed GNSS chip business, while growing, still represents a smaller portion of revenue, reaching only 32.2% most recently.
Nevertheless, Huada Beidou states in its prospectus that its GNSS chips have also been applied to electric bicycles. Supported by government policies encouraging the installation of positioning devices in such vehicles, the company anticipates that electric bicycles will become a major revenue source in the coming years.
Huada Beidou claims that it expects to improve its financial performance and achieve profitability in the near future through sustained revenue growth, enhanced gross margins, improved operational efficiency, and optimized working capital management.
Beyond its foundational shared bicycle business and the promising electric bicycle segment, Huada Beidou is strategically focusing on two additional high-growth areas: intelligent driving and the low-altitude economy.
China's proposals for the 15th Five-Year Plan have identified the low-altitude economy as a strategic emerging pillar industry, creating new opportunities for high-precision positioning chips. China Insights Consultancy forecasts that from 2024 to 2029, the compound annual growth rate for GNSS chip and module shipments in China's low-altitude economy sector will reach 34.5%.
Huada Beidou's latest prospectus reveals that its multi-frequency, multi-system SoC chips, such as the HD8145 series, support signals from multiple systems like Beidou and GPS. These chips feature high precision (centimeter-level), low power consumption, and strong anti-occlusion capabilities, making them suitable for the navigation and positioning needs of drones and eVTOLs.
The company disclosed that it is in early-stage discussions with several leading drone manufacturers to explore potential applications of its GNSS chips in consumer-grade drone products.
Intelligent driving represents another critical battleground. According to the company, Huada Beidou's GNSS chips can be used in intelligent driving and IoT applications, while its comprehensive chips involve automotive-grade communication modules, automotive SoC chips, and other related products. Last year, Huada Beidou initiated collaborations with companies like BYD, SAIC, and Jiangling Motors, providing technical support for intelligent driving functions through high-precision navigation and positioning solutions.
However, unlike its first-mover advantage in the shared bicycle sector, the fields of intelligent driving and the low-altitude economy are crowded with competitors.
For instance, BDStar Navigation, the first listed company in China's satellite navigation industry, has maintained a stable and high market share for its chip modules in traditional sectors like industrial drones and precision agriculture. In the first three quarters of 2025, its chip module revenue saw significant growth in emerging areas such as intelligent driving and consumer electronics.
Hi-Target Navigation Group is also making continuous efforts in the robotics and autonomous driving sectors, having established partnerships with companies like Yikong, Sany, JD.com, and Huawei in areas like low-speed robots and logistics autonomous driving. In the first three quarters of 2025, its related businesses in robotics and autonomous driving developed rapidly, contributing to effective growth in net profit.
It is noteworthy that the GNSS product supply chain exhibits a prominent "design win" characteristic. If a competitor's chip is first integrated into a customer's GNSS product, the circuit board designed around it may be incompatible with offerings from later entrants. Consequently, latecomers face the urgent need to introduce products with superior performance or pricing.
Facing intense market competition and to maintain product coverage, the average selling price of Huada Beidou's standard-precision chips and modules dropped from 7.4 yuan in 2022 to 4.8 yuan in 2024, while sales and marketing expenses increased by 27.7%.
As of the end of June 2025, Huada Beidou's cash and cash equivalents stood at a mere 244 million yuan, which is already lower than its full-year R&D expenditure for 2024. Its gearing ratio increased from 2.3% in 2022 to 9.3% in 2024.
The continuous substantial R&D investments and the high costs associated with pioneering new sectors form the core rationale behind Huada Beidou's pursuit of a public listing. According to the prospectus, the funds raised from the IPO will be used to enhance the company's R&D capabilities, expand its product and solution portfolio, extend its sales network, and pursue strategic investments and acquisitions.
Now, just half a year after its previous application, this company, crowned with the Beidou halo and dominant in the shared bicycle positioning chip market, is actively seeking to craft a new growth narrative.
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