(Yicai) Oct. 24 -- Hesai Technology, a major Chinese developer of three-dimensional light direction and ranging technologies, has yet to decide if it will build a factory in Mexico to supply Tesla, according to a report. 

Hesai has not disclosed any plans to invest in Mexico and does not know whether Tesla wants lidars for cars or humanoid robots, the 21st Century Business Herald yesterday cited the Shanghai-based company as saying in response to a rumor that the US carmaker has invited it to build a factory in the country.

Chinese auto parts supplier Ningbo Tuopu Group plans to invest USD700 million and Hesai USD260 million in the Mexican state of Nuevo León after Tesla announced plans to build a large plant there, Governor Samuel Garcia noted during a visit to Shanghai on Oct. 19. 

Tesla will invest more than USD5 billion in Nuevo León, and has already had some suppliers there, according to a Mexican official. The Texas-based company has not started building the project and has not determined the commissioning date, the official added, noting that Hesai will create 4,000 jobs.

Founded in 2014, Hesai is a leading developer of lidar for advanced driver assistance systems, self-driving cars, unmanned delivery vehicles, and robots. A lidar device measures the precise distance between an object and a sensor by using lasers and is widely used in self-driving cars and robots.

Hesai’s lidar shipments skyrocketed 630 percent to 86,940 in the first half of this year from a year earlier. Its revenue doubled to CNY440.3 million (USD60.2 million) in the second quarter from a year ago, while the firm’s net loss widened 6.7 percent to CNY74.4 million (USD10.2 million).

Editor: Martin Kadiev