Yu Kai

Who he is

Yu Kai is chief executive of Horizon Robotics and one of the company's founders. He shares the founding role with Huang Chang, the chief technology officer, and Tao Feiwen, the chief operating officer ^[2]. The three titles mark out a familiar division of labour in a company that sells both chips and software: the chief executive carries overall direction, the chief technology officer carries the technology, and the chief operating officer carries day-to-day execution.

What the company does

Horizon Robotics works on smart-driving solutions — the chips, algorithms and software that let a car sense its surroundings and take over part of the driving task. The company describes itself as the first and currently largest Chinese company for mass-produced smart-driving solutions ^[1]. By the time of its listing, its solutions had been adopted by 27 carmakers (OEMs) across 42 brands for 290 car models, and all of China's top ten OEMs had chosen them for mass production ^[2]. The word "mass production" matters here: it separates a supplier whose technology ships in cars people actually buy from one whose work is still at the demonstration stage.

Founding and the road to listing

In his speech at the listing ceremony, Yu said Horizon was founded in 2015 and that after nine years it had become the preferred smart-driving partner for many Chinese carmakers ^[1]. The company began trading on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on 24 October 2024 under the code 9660.HK ^[1]. Yu rang the opening bell at the ceremony ^[1], and he described the Hong Kong listing as a critical step towards international expansion ^[1] — a way of framing the move not simply as a fundraising event but as the start of selling outside China.

The numbers behind the listing

The listing documents put revenue at 467 million yuan in 2021, 906 million in 2022 and 1.552 billion in 2023 ^[1]. The figures show a company whose revenue was rising sharply in the years before it went public, at the same time as its technology was spreading across a growing list of car models. For a supplier in this position, revenue of that kind depends on winning a design slot with a carmaker years before the model reaches showrooms, then shipping in volume once it does.

Why he matters

As chief executive, Yu is the public face of a company that sits in the middle of China's electric and smart car industry, supplying the driving assistance systems that carmakers market to buyers. The customer figures the company cites — 27 OEMs, 42 brands, 290 models, and the top ten Chinese OEMs — are one measure of how far this kind of technology has moved from a premium feature to something fitted across ordinary model lines ^[2]. His own framing, both of the company's history and of its next step abroad, is that of a supplier that spent its first years building volume at home and now intends to compete internationally ^[1]. The Hong Kong listing is the point at which that shift becomes visible to public investors.