AEye Partners With Sanmina to Scale LiDAR Production

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AEye, Inc., the global leader in adaptive, high-performance LiDAR solutions, announced Sanmina Corporation, a leading integrated manufacturing solutions company that manufactures some of the world’s most complex and innovative electronic, optical and mechanical products, will begin production of AEye’s 4Sight M LiDAR sensor for industrial and mobility markets in September. The transfer from AEye’s pilot line in Dublin, California to Sanmina’s commercial production lines will take place over the next few months, as the company prepares for volume production.

AEye’s uniquely intelligent LiDAR (iDAR™) leverages deterministic AI to focus on what matters most in a vehicle’s surroundings, resulting in greater reliability, safety, and performance at longer range and lower cost. Its strategic investment and go-to-market partners include Continental AG, GM Ventures, Subaru-SBI, Hella Ventures, LG Electronics, Pegasus Ventures (Aisin), and Airbus Ventures.

“We are thrilled to work with Sanmina as a manufacturing partner on the 4Sight M,” said Rick Tewell, AEye COO. “Sanmina manufactures some of the most complex electronic, optical and mechanical products in the world, and we are delighted to have them add the 4Sight M to that list. The manufacturing expertise and precision required to build a sensor with the capabilities of the 4Sight M yielded a very short list of possible manufacturing partners. Sanmina was at the top of that list, and we are extremely happy to be working with them to serve our non-automotive markets. The 4Sight M is software-definable and is now available for multiple market applications including mobility, trucking, ITS, rail, construction, and mining.”

AEye has designed the 4Sight M with a focus on reliability, cost, quality and supply chain efficiency. The company’s current in-house pilot line is in the process of being transferred to production lines in Sanmina’s San Jose facility, which specializes in producing advanced PCBAs and complex systems, and will transition to Sanmina’s Pathum Thani, Thailand Global Services facility for volume mass production. The transfer includes proprietary optical alignment and calibration technology that enables best-in-class range accuracy.

“AEye’s high-performance adaptive LiDAR is industry-leading,” said Mike Landy, president and COO Integrated Manufacturing Solutions at Sanmina. “We’re proud to provide our deep design and process development expertise and state-of-the-art manufacturing capabilities to accelerate series production of AEye’s next-generation systems.”

This announcement comes at a time of rapid growth, technological advancement and business expansion for AEye, as it doubles in size and prepares for productization and mass production. AEye’s iDAR™ product has achieved groundbreaking, independently verified performance metrics that top the LiDAR industry, and the company is working alongside manufacturing and go-to-market partner, Continental AG to jointly develop an ultra-long range, high-performance LiDAR for automotive and commercial vehicle applications.