Intel Plans to Take Mobileye Public

Intel Corp (NASDAQ:INTC) plans to take its self-driving vehicle development unit Mobileye (F:0ME) to the public in the United States in mid-2022.

Intel hopes to retain the Mobileye management team and retain majority ownership of the unit after the initial public offering of newly issued Mobileye shares. The company added in a statement that Intel has no intention to divest or transfer a majority stake in Mobileye and will continue to provide technical resources to the automaker. Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger said, "Amnon and I have determined that an IPO provides the best opportunity to build on Mobileye's innovation history and create value for shareholders." Intel acquired Mobileye for $15.3 billion in 2017, putting it in direct competition with rivals Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) Corp and Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) Inc to develop driverless systems for global automakers. Automakers, including General Motors, Ford, and Toyota, are in a race to move from petrol vehicles to all-electric models, and have invested significantly in models, each with features such as driver assistance technology and self-driving systems. Founded in 1999, Mobileye has taken a different strategy from most of its self-driving rivals, with an existing camera-based system providing cars with adaptive cruise control and lane change assistance. The company plans to eventually install its own "lidar" sensor to help its cars map a three-dimensional view of the road, and is using Luminar Technologies' lidar units during this time. Although owned by Intel, Mobileye did not use Intel's factories to manufacture its chips, instead all "EyeQ" chips to date have been produced by TSMC.     Source: Investing.com