CATL invests as Eacon sets its sights on becoming the "world's first listed unmanned mining vehicle company"
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On June 24, Eacon Autonomous Driving Technology Co., Ltd. (“Eacon Autonomous Driving”) passed the main board listing hearing of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and updated its post-hearing information. Guotai Junan International and Haitong International are serving as sponsors.
As an autonomous driving company invested by CATL, Zijin Mining, and other institutions, if Eacon Autonomous Driving is successfully listed, it may become "the world’s first unmanned mining stock."
From its updated financial and business data, we can observe the trajectory of commercial vehicle autonomous driving being implemented in closed scenarios: its revenue scale has grown rapidly with fleet deployment, and the company is undergoing a shift from heavy-asset to light-asset operations, but in the short term still faces concentrated major clients and sustained losses.
Because mining areas are closed, low-speed, and have fixed routes, they became one of the earliest scenes for autonomous driving technology commercialization.
According to the information, from 2023 to 2025, Eacon Autonomous Driving achieved total revenues of RMB 271 million, 986 million, and 1.435 billion, with a three-year compound annual growth rate of 130.2%.
As of December 31, 2025, the number of active deployed unmanned mining trucks reached 2,580. Based on 2025 revenue, the company’s market share in China’s unmanned mining solutions is 37.6%, ranking first.
In terms of profitability, the company turned positive gross margin in 2024. From 2023 to 2025, its gross profit was -50.46 million, 74.71 million, and 145 million, respectively, with corresponding gross margins of -18.6%, 7.6%, and 10.1%.
At the net profit level, Eacon Autonomous Driving is still in a loss position.
From 2023 to 2025, the company’s net losses were 334 million, 390 million, and 516 million, respectively. However, the expanded loss in 2025 includes a one-time event: an impairment loss of 118 million related to assets classified as held for sale.
During the same period, adjusted net losses excluding non-cash items such as share payments and listing expenses were 284 million, 303 million, and 484 million. The losses stem mainly from significant early-stage investments to lay out its business and continuous R&D expenditure.
The marginal improvement in financial data is directly related to adjustments in its underlying business model. Eacon Autonomous Driving’s core "Zhushan" solution mainly operates in two business models: company-provided fleet and client-provided fleet.
In the company-provided fleet mode, Eacon Autonomous Driving itself purchases and manages mining trucks, providing full lifecycle services. This mode requires heavy upfront capital investment. While it's beneficial for early market expansion and technology verification, the cost burden is high. In 2023, the mode's gross margin was -39.3%.
To optimize its profit structure, the company is gradually shifting toward the client-provided fleet mode. In this mode, clients purchase or lease mining trucks, while Eacon Autonomous Driving mainly provides unmanned driving hardware/software systems and related technical support. This light-asset model structurally offers higher profit margins; in 2025, gross margin under this model rose to 16.0%.
From a revenue structure perspective, the share of total income from the client-provided fleet model increased from 41.7% in 2023 to 46.0% in 2024, and further to 56.8% in 2025, becoming the company’s largest source of revenue. This business model change is the key driver for the company’s gross margin turning positive.
During its scale expansion process, Eacon Autonomous Driving’s business structure also reflects typical characteristics of industrial B-end service companies, especially high client concentration.
From 2023 to 2025, the top five clients contributed 94.4%, 83.7%, and 66.3% of total revenue, respectively. Among them, the largest single client contributed 54.5% and 35.7% of revenue in 2024 and 2025. Although the company maintained a 100% retention rate for all end-client groups over the past three years, changes in demand or procurement rhythm from major clients can directly impact its short-term performance.
Furthermore, due to the payment characteristics of large B-end projects, the company’s working capital cycle has lengthened as business expanded. Data shows Eacon Autonomous Driving’s accounts receivable turnover days lengthened from 48.8 days in 2023 to 168.5 days in 2025; its cash conversion cycle also lengthened from 34.1 days in 2023 to 130.0 days in 2025. This places higher demands on the company’s liquidity management.
As a technology-driven enterprise, R&D investment is necessary to maintain product barriers. From 2023 to 2025, the company’s R&D expenditures were 177 million, 208 million, and 271 million, showing an upward trend year by year. However, thanks to rapid revenue expansion, the R&D expense ratio diluted from 65.4% in 2023 to 18.8% in 2025.
Overall, Eacon Autonomous Driving has achieved the closed loop from technology to commercialization through large-scale deployment in mining areas, and preliminary improvement in gross margin through a shift toward the light-asset model.
After entering the capital market, how the company will further optimize client structure, improve cash turnover cycles, and cross the inflection point of net profit while maintaining technical investment, will be operation questions it needs to continuously address going forward.
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