LG Innotek eyes W2tr in automotive sensor sales by 2030

LG Innotek on Monday set an ambitious goal of achieving 2 trillion won ($1.44 billion) in automotive sensor sales by 2030.

The company said it will speed up efforts to adopt its cutting-edge optical technology to diverse future mobility and automotive sensing solutions.

Its strategic focus will be lidar, the light detection and ranging sensors that are crucial for self-driving vehicles.

Earlier this month, the company launched a new team solely dedicated to lidar development immediately under the supervision of CEO Moon Hyuk-soo.

"We will apply our unique expertise accumulated in the mobile camera module business to come up with a new driver for future growth," Moon said in a press briefing in March.

The company is looking into the autonomous driving and advanced driver-assistance system sectors as its next driver for growth, as they consist of camera modules, lidar and radar.

The company said it has been continuously strengthening its core capabilities for lidar development since 2015. Last year, the company acquired 77 US patents related to lidar from an American autonomous driving startup, bringing the total to some 300 patents.

"Based on our winning formula gained from our mobile camera module business, we seek to foster the vehicle sensing solution business to a prominent one that generates an annual revenue of 2 trillion won by 2030," Moon said.

According to market tracker Yole Intelligence, the market for lidar sensors for autonomous vehicles is expected to jump from $2.1 billion in 2025 to $11.2 billion in 2030 and $17.5 billion by 2032.

The company said it will also continue to invest in its high-value vehicle camera modules, the core technology that will become the "eyes" for autonomous vehicles in the future.

Earlier this year, LG Innotek signed an equity investment agreement with AOE Optoelectronics, a Taiwanese lens manufacturing company, to enhance its capability in building camera modules for cars.

The company recently introduced a high-performance heating camera module that quickly defrosts the camera lens during extreme cold weather. It is also working on new camera modules that can remove dust and dirt on the lens while driving, the company said.

In Mexico, LG Innotek expanded its existing production facility by acquiring an additional 30,000 square meters in 2023. At the new factory, the company will kick off full-scale production of vehicle camera modules in the second half of next year.