CATL Invests in Driverless IPO! Fleet Scale Leads the World

Author ｜ Janson

Editor ｜ Zhihao

Raised 3 billion RMB over three years, another mining autonomous driving enterprise is set to list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Che Dongxi reported on June 25, recently, Yikong Zhijia Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Yikong Zhijia") updated its post-prospectus with the HKEX, meaning this mine autonomous driving solutions company has passed the HKEX hearing and is one step closer to listing on the Hong Kong stock market.

▲ Yikong Zhijia Post-Prospectus

Founded in 2018, Yikong Zhijia focuses on the commercial deployment of autonomous driving solutions in mining areas. Core businesses include closed-environment autonomous mining truck products and solutions "ZhuShan", and mine digital solutions "MuYe".

As of December 31, 2025, Yikong Zhijia has deployed 2,580 active autonomous mining trucks. In a single mine where its solutions operate, the scale of the autonomous mining truck fleet has exceeded 500 vehicles, making it the largest autonomous mining truck fleet deployed in a single mine globally.

▲ Yikong Zhijia Core Businesses

From a financial data perspective, Yikong Zhijia realized revenue of 1.435 billion yuan in 2025, a year-on-year increase of 45.5%, representing a growth of approximately 4.3 times compared to 271 million yuan in 2023.

However, Yikong Zhijia remained in a loss-making state for the past three years. In 2023, 2024, and 2025, its net losses were 334 million yuan, 390 million yuan, and 516 million yuan respectively, with a cumulative loss of approximately 1.239 billion yuan over the three years. During the same period, adjusted net losses were 284 million yuan, 303 million yuan, and 484 million yuan respectively.

▲ Yikong Zhijia Financial Highlights

Overall, Yikong Zhijia has moved from the early verification stage of mine autonomous driving to the stage of scale deployment with hundreds of units or even hundreds of vehicles.

However, beyond rapid expansion, how to continue improving cash flow, increase gross margin, and move towards profitability remains the core issue Yikong Zhijia needs to answer after listing.

I. 2025 Revenue 1.435 Billion Yuan, Gross Margin Increased to 10.1%

The post-prospectus shows that in 2023, 2024, and 2025, Yikong Zhijia's revenue was 271 million yuan, 986 million yuan, and 1.435 billion yuan respectively.

Among them, Yikong Zhijia's revenue grew by 264.0% in 2024, and further grew by 45.5% in 2025, with revenue scale continuing to expand.

▲ Yikong Zhijia Main Financial Information

From the revenue structure perspective, closed-environment autonomous mining truck products and solutions are Yikong Zhijia's absolute core business.

In 2025, revenue from closed-environment autonomous mining truck products and solutions for Yikong Zhijia was 1.428 billion yuan, accounting for 99.5% of total revenue. Among them, revenue from the customer-provided fleet model was 815 million yuan, accounting for 56.8%; revenue from the company-provided fleet model was 613 million yuan, accounting for 42.7%.

▲ Yikong Zhijia Revenue Composition

From the perspective of business model changes, Yikong Zhijia is transitioning from the capital-intensive company-provided fleet model to the asset-light customer-provided fleet model.

Under the customer-provided fleet model, customers purchase or lease mining trucks, and Yikong Zhijia mainly provides autonomous driving technology, software support, and related services; under the company-provided fleet model, Yikong Zhijia needs to provide vehicles and full lifecycle services, bearing more responsibilities for vehicle management, maintenance, and repairs.

This change also brought gross margin improvements.

In 2023, Yikong Zhijia recorded a gross loss of 50.46 million yuan, with a gross loss rate of 18.6%; in 2024, it realized a gross profit of 74.71 million yuan, with gross margin turning positive to 7.6%; in 2025, gross profit further increased to 145 million yuan, with gross margin increasing to 10.1%.

▲ Yikong Zhijia Gross Profit

Among them, the gross margin for the customer-provided fleet model is significantly higher. In 2025, the gross margin for this model reached 16.0%; during the same period, the gross margin for the company-provided fleet model was only 1.5%.

Regarding losses, in 2023, 2024, and 2025, Yikong Zhijia's net losses were 334 million yuan, 390 million yuan, and 516 million yuan respectively; during the same period, adjusted net losses were 284 million yuan, 303 million yuan, and 484 million yuan. Adjusted net losses during the same period were 284 million yuan, 303 million yuan, and 484 million yuan respectively.

Regarding cash flow, Yikong Zhijia's operating cash outflow in 2025 was 394 million yuan, narrower than the 713 million yuan outflow in 2024, but operating cash flow has not yet turned positive.

Regarding R&D investment, in 2023, 2024, and 2025, Yikong Zhijia's R&D expenses were 177 million yuan, 208 million yuan, and 271 million yuan respectively; due to revenue growth, the proportion of R&D expenses to revenue decreased from 65.4% in 2023 to 18.8% in 2025.

II. 2,580 Active Autonomous Mining Trucks, Over 500 Trucks Deployed per Mine

From the perspective of commercialization progress, Yikong Zhijia has entered the stage of scale deployment of mine autonomous driving.

As of December 31, 2025, Yikong Zhijia has deployed 2,580 active autonomous mining trucks.

▲ Overview of Yikong Zhijia Autonomous Mining Trucks

In terms of penetration into large open-pit coal mines, by the end of 2025, Yikong Zhijia's solutions have been deployed in 19 of 41 open-pit coal mines with an annual verified capacity of over 10 million tons in China, and 7 of the 12 largest open-pit coal mines calculated by annual verified capacity.

Based on 2025 revenue, Yikong Zhijia ranks first in the Chinese commercial vehicle intelligent driving solutions market, with a market share of approximately 10.2%.

▲ Yikong Zhijia Industry Ranking (By Revenue)

In the Chinese mine autonomous driving solutions market, it accounts for approximately 37.6% of the market share by revenue, and 55.5% by the number of active autonomous mining trucks, also ranking first.

▲ Yikong Zhijia Industry Ranking (By Vehicles)

What is more worth attention is that mine autonomous driving is moving from single vehicle and small fleet pilots to the deployment stage of hundreds of vehicles per mine or even hundreds of vehicles.

As of December 31, 2025, there were 11 mine autonomous driving projects nationwide with autonomous mining truck fleets of over 100 per single mine, of which 9 deployed Yikong Zhijia's solutions.

In a single mine where Yikong Zhijia's solutions operate, the deployed autonomous mining truck fleet has exceeded 500 vehicles, making it the largest autonomous mining truck fleet deployed in a single mine globally.

Regarding customers, Yikong Zhijia mainly serves mining companies and their contractors. In 2023, 2024, and 2025, Yikong Zhijia served 13, 24, and 52 customers respectively, with a 100% retention rate among all terminal customer groups over the three years.

Its customers and partners include large mining and industrial groups such as China Energy, Zijin Mining, Shougang Group, and Baowu Group.

However, the customer concentration of Yikong Zhijia remains high.

▲ Yikong Zhijia Top Five Customers Composition

In 2023, 2024, and 2025, revenue from the top five customers for Yikong Zhijia was 256 million yuan, 825 million yuan, and 950 million yuan respectively, accounting for 94.4%, 83.7%, and 66.3% of total revenue respectively. During the same period, revenue share of the largest customer was 41.7%, 54.5%, and 35.7% respectively.

It can be seen that although Yikong Zhijia's customer concentration is decreasing, its revenue still relies significantly on top mining customers and large projects.

III. "ZhuShan + MuYe" Two Major Product Lines, Supporting Adaptation of Over 70 Car Models

From the business structure perspective, Yikong Zhijia mainly has two core solutions: closed-environment autonomous mining truck products and solutions "ZhuShan", and mine digital solutions "MuYe".

▲ Yikong Zhijia Two Major Solutions

Among them, "ZhuShan" is Yikong Zhijia's current core business, mainly targeting large open-pit mines, providing autonomous driving systems, remote driving assistance, autonomous driving dispatch, remote technical support, continuous software updates, and other capabilities for mining trucks.

▲ Yikong Zhijia "ZhuShan" Solution

According to the ownership of fleet assets and service content, "ZhuShan" is divided into customer-provided fleet models and company-provided fleet models.

Under the customer-provided fleet model, Yikong Zhijia mainly provides hardware and software products and technical services; under the company-provided fleet model, Yikong Zhijia also needs to provide autonomous mining trucks and be responsible for daily vehicle maintenance, repair, and other full lifecycle services.

"MuYe" is a mine digital solution, mainly through data analysis, IoT integration, and real-time monitoring technology to improve mine production and operation efficiency, covering links such as intelligent fleet management and predictive maintenance.

Technologically, Yikong Zhijia emphasizes independent full-stack R&D capabilities. Its system can support the adaptation of over 70 car models and can complete new mine deployment within three days.

As of 2025, Yikong Zhijia's R&D team exceeds 400 people, with a cumulative 242 Chinese patents and 43 PCT applications.

The prospectus also mentions that Yikong Zhijia has participated in formulating 17 national and industry standards and leads the open-pit mine autonomous driving standardization working group.

IV. Completed Over 3 Billion RMB Financing in 3 Years, CATL, Zijin Mining as Shareholders

Regarding financing, the post-prospectus shows that Yikong Zhijia has completed multiple financing rounds before listing, with investors including Minxi Xinghang, Shanghai Chentao, Zijin Mining, Sidao Capital, Nio Capital, Xihe Investment, Wuxi Xingqi, Zhengzhou High-Tech Fund, Puquan Fund, CATL, Yankuang Capital, Tonli Shares, Desay SV, Gaocheng Capital, and Hony Investment.

Regarding financing cash flow, in 2023, 2024, and 2025, the net cash inflow from financing activities for Yikong Zhijia was 579 million yuan, 1.165 billion yuan, and 1.323 billion yuan respectively, with a total financing cash inflow of approximately 3.066 billion yuan over three years.

▲ Yikong Zhijia Partial Pre-IPO Equity Share

Regarding equity structure, before listing, Lanshuisheng, Zhang Lei, Liu Dongmei, Jiaxing Zhitao, Ningbo Yuying, and Ningbo Zhongying jointly constitute a controlling shareholder group, holding 42.75% equity of Yikong Zhijia.

Among them, Lanshuisheng is the co-chairman, executive director, general manager, and CEO of Yikong Zhijia; Zhang Lei is the chairman and executive director.

Lanshuisheng has started businesses multiple times, focusing on the commercial application of mine autonomous driving technology, and participated in multiple stages of Yikong Zhijia's development.

▲ Zhang Lei, Chairman and Co-Founder of Yikong Zhijia

Chairman and co-founder Zhang Lei has over ten years of experience in autonomous vehicle R&D and has long engaged in mine autonomous driving and commercial vehicle platform-related work.

▲ Yikong Zhijia Pre-IPO Equity Distribution

From the equity structure perspective, since Yikong Zhijia's equity structure will change after issuance, the shareholding ratio of controlling shareholders such as Lanshuisheng and Zhang Lei may be correspondingly diluted.

Information shows that Yikong Zhijia plans to use funds raised from the listing for software R&D, hardware R&D, IT development, overseas business expansion, talent development, strategic investment, and working capital.

In addition, the overseas market is also one of the key directions for Yikong Zhijia in the future.

Yikong Zhijia established Australia and Singapore subsidiaries in 2023 and established cooperation with overseas mining service providers such as Thiess and MACA, planning to expand into mine markets in Australia, Canada, Chile, Mongolia, Middle East, and Africa in the future.

Conclusion: Mine Autonomous Driving Enters Scale Competition

From the industry background perspective, mine autonomous driving has become one of the scenarios where autonomous driving technology commercializes more quickly.

Open-pit mines have characteristics such as relatively fixed routes, closed operation environments, high transportation intensity, and high safety risks, giving autonomous mining trucks relatively clear commercial value.

Data from Frost & Sullivan shows that the Chinese mine autonomous driving solutions market is entering a rapid scale stage, with the penetration rate of autonomous mining trucks expected to increase from about 12% in 2025 to over 50% in 2030.

For Yikong Zhijia, passing the Hong Kong Stock Exchange hearing means entering a new capitalization stage.

On the one hand, Yikong Zhijia has secured industry-leading deployment scale and verified scale implementation capabilities in projects with over 100 units per mine and over 500 units.

On the other hand, Yikong Zhijia still faces challenges such as continued losses, operating cash flow not yet turning positive, and high customer concentration.

Next, whether Yikong Zhijia can continue to increase the proportion of asset-light model income, improve gross margin and cash flow while expanding deployment scale will become the focus of public attention.