A look at Chinese lidar maker Hesai, blacklisted by the US DOD in 2024, as it expands in the US; Hesai says it has ~33% of the global automotive lidar market
Robots on the factory floor. Self-driving vehicles on the Las Vegas strip. Even a substitute for man's best friend — the robotic dog.LinkedIn:Scott Zamost.Forums:r/MVISLinkedIn:Scott Zamost:BLACKLISTED, our investigation into Chinese lidar with Nvidia ties and the potential risk to the U.S., premiered today on CNBC and cnbc.com. …Forums:r/MVIS:Chinese lidar maker with Nvidia ties accused of being cyber risk for U.S.
Context & Ripple Effects
Hesai’s U.S. posture has been contested since at least 2023, when it publicly rebutted national-security and privacy concerns amid a broader lobbying campaign by U.S. lidar companies. The dispute escalated when the Defense Department added Hesai to its 2024 list, which Hesai challenged in court.
The company is nonetheless pushing its technology and commercial footprint forward, including a newly announced sensor for Nvidia’s ADAS ecosystem. CNBC’s investigation puts renewed attention on the tension between that supply-chain role and alleged cyber-risk concerns.
First-order effects
- Hesai’s U.S. expansion and its claimed global automotive-lidar position will face heightened scrutiny from customers, investors, and policymakers following renewed media attention to its Defense Department listing.
- Nvidia and automotive partners using or evaluating Hesai components may need to more explicitly assess and communicate their supplier-risk exposure.
Second-order effects
- U.S. lidar rivals gain a clearer basis to argue for procurement preferences or tighter review of Chinese-made sensing hardware, extending the competitive fight beyond sensor performance and cost.
- Automotive and robotics buyers may place more value on supplier provenance, security review, and alternative sourcing, potentially lengthening component-selection cycles.
Third-order effects
- If security concerns continue to shape lidar purchasing, automotive sensing could split into more regionally segmented supply chains even as Chinese vendors retain global scale.
- The episode points to lidar becoming another strategic hardware category where market access depends increasingly on geopolitical and cybersecurity acceptability, not solely technical capability.
The trend: Lidar is joining other advanced vehicle and robotics components in a U.S.-China competition where supply-chain security is becoming a commercial differentiator.