Luminar stock surges as Chinese demand for LiDAR-equipped vehicles prompts factory expansion in Asia

Late Monday, Luminar announced at the Shanghai International Automobile Industry Exhibition that it had cut the deal with the Taipei, Taiwan-headquartered TPK
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to expand its manufacturing capacity in Asia, noting a rising demand for its LiDAR products. LiDAR stands for “light detection and ranging,” and the sensor technology is currently widespread in the auto industry for use in computer assisted — and some hope, completely autonomous — driving.

TPK, most often associated as a major supplier to Apple Inc.
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and Tesla Inc.
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is tasked with not only building the factory but operating it for Luminar, while TPK will invest in the company with the purchase of an unspecified amount of stock.

In a statement, Luminar said “roughly half of the 20 million vehicles sold in China last year were from foreign-branded automakers, many of which are Luminar partners.”

Also, the company noted that of the “more than 20 production vehicle models Luminar is designed into, the majority are also slated for the China market.”

Read: Why Luminar’s CEO is running over fake kids in a Tesla at CES

As an example, the company pointed to the Volvo’s
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EX90 Excellence, which was introduce at the will come with Luminar’s LiDAR as a standard feature for safety and autonomous capabilities.

Last week, Orlando-based Luminar announced it was also building out a “highly automated, high volume” manufacturing plant in Monterrey, Mexico, with its first Iris sensors already being shipped out to its “lead global high-volume series production customer” to prep for production by the end of the year.