Intel Drives Forward With Mobileye Self-Driving Car Unit’s IPO Plans

Sky-high inflation, rising interest rates and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have sent shock waves through the stock market, putting the IPO market on pace for its worst year in decades.

Intel acquired Israeli company Mobileye in 2017 for $15.3 billion. Intel Chief Executive

Pat Gelsinger

has previously said the listing Mobileye would give the unit a higher profile and ability to attract more business. Intel, he said, doesn’t need the money Mobileye’s public listing would generate.

Another company pressing ahead with IPO plans, Instacart Inc., said it doesn’t plan to raise much capital in the public offering.

Intel will retain a large stake in Mobileye, including all of the Class B shares the Mobileye plans to issue, according to the filing. Each Class B share will have voting rights equivalent to 10 Class A shares.

Mobileye, with around 3,100 employees, said it had revenue of $854 million for the first six months of its fiscal year, up 21% from the year-earlier period. The company had a loss of $67 million, it said in the disclosure.

Amnon Shashua,

the founder and chief executive of Mobileye, said in the filing that he supported the sale to Intel “to accelerate Mobileye’s transition from a world leader in driver assistance systems to a leading enabler in the evolution of autonomous driving solutions. Together we accomplished that goal. Now it is time for the next chapter.”

Mobileye said it expected its driver-assistance systems to be deployed in 266 million vehicles in 2030 based purely on agreements it had in hand around midyear.

Chip companies more widely are betting that the auto sector, which is embracing more semiconductors as vehicles add features such as enhanced driver-assistance technology.

Qualcomm Inc.

Chief Financial Officer

Akash Palkhiwala

this month said the company expects to grow automotive revenue to around $4 billion in about four years from $1.3 billion estimated for the current fiscal year. The figure should reach around $9 billion early next decade, he said.

Mobileye said it applied to list on the Nasdaq under the symbol MBLY.

The push to move forward on the IPO comes at a difficult time for Intel. The company’s earnings have been under pressure from a slump in the PC and smartphone market.

Intel also is investing heavily to expand its chip-production capacity, with more than $100 billion in investment plans announced since Mr. Gelsinger took the top job early in 2021. Intel last month struck an unusual $30 billion funding partnership with

Brookfield Asset Management Inc.

to help finance its factory-expansion ambitions.

Write to Stephen Nakrosis at [email protected]