A man in his 60s from Guangdong makes ultrasonic sensors: Competing head - on with German and Japanese companies, with an annual income of 617 million yuan, and getting listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange

Audiowell issued an announcement stating that it plans to issue shares (H shares) overseas and list on the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited.

Audiowell is located in Panyu, Guangzhou. It was established in 1999 and specializes in ultrasonic sensors and actuators.

Its main products include distance sensors, flow sensors, pressure-touch sensors and actuators, atomizing transducers and modules, alarm sounders, etc. They are mainly used in fields such as intelligent vehicles, intelligent meters, smart homes, smart security, industrial control, and consumer electronics.

The ultrasonic sensor industry is relatively mature. The leading enterprises mainly come from Germany and Japan, including Pepperl+Fuchs, SICK, Balluff, Bosch, Omron, Keyence, Panasonic, etc.

Zhang Shuguang, the founder of Audiowell, was born in 1967. His ancestral hometown is in Guangdong, and he grew up in the Wanli Electromechanical Factory, a military - state - owned enterprise in Lanzhou. In 1986, he was admitted to the Department of Physics of Lanzhou University, majoring in Metal Physics. After graduating from university, Zhang Shuguang went south to Guangdong and worked as a middle - school teacher for some time.

Since 1992, he has entered the sensor industry and has worked as a worker, technician, and salesperson in factories. Zhang Shuguang always says that he didn't know why he started doing sensors at that time, and he "stumbled" into the industry. However, one thing is undeniable: Zhang Shuguang has a strong spirit of exploration. He is an amateur inventor, and about half of Audiowell's more than one hundred patents are related to him.

Audiowell initially focused on electro - acoustic devices and then gradually expanded the application fields of its products. Currently, the company's products are widely used in fields such as automotive electronics, intelligent meters, smart homes, industrial control, security, and consumer electronics.

Automotive electronics is the largest application field for Audiowell's sensors. Audiowell's in - vehicle ultrasonic sensors have entered the pre - installation supply chain of domestic automobile manufacturers.

Zhang Shuguang introduced that Audiowell's independently developed AKⅡ in - vehicle ultrasonic sensor products have reached the stage of mass production and sales. They meet the functional safety requirements and are suitable for autonomous driving levels above AVP - L2. They have the technical advantages of longer ranging, smaller blind spots, encodable modulation to reduce interference, adaptive thresholds, and meeting the functional safety (ASIL B) level. The hidden ultrasonic sensor for vehicle doors can be hidden inside the door. While maintaining the perfect appearance of the whole vehicle, it can emit ultrasonic waves that can penetrate metal materials such as steel and aluminum to accurately detect nearby obstacles.

In the booming humanoid robot industry, Audiowell's flexible sensors, hidden ultrasonic obstacle - avoidance sensors, tactile sensors, ultrasonic material recognition sensors, tactile feedback actuators, etc. can all realize perception and execution functions, which will empower humanoid robots in the future.

In addition, Audiowell's ultrasonic flow sensors have entered the supply chains of international mainstream brand smart water meter and gas meter manufacturers. The security alarm sounder, as a core component, has always been used in the security alarm systems of international mainstream brands.

Audiowell also provides a "trinity" intelligent perception solution for unmanned sanitation vehicles in the sanitation industry, a comprehensive intelligent obstacle - avoidance solution for intelligent trolleys in the distribution industry, and an emergency avoidance and route optimization solution for AGV trolleys in the warehousing industry.

On June 14, 2022, Audiowell was listed on the Beijing Stock Exchange. As of the time of writing, its market value is 4.5 billion yuan.

In 2024, Audiowell's revenue was 617 million yuan, a year - on - year increase of 32.15%; the net profit was 89 million yuan, a year - on - year increase of 15.60%.

In the first half of 2025, Audiowell's revenue was 330 million yuan, a year - on - year increase of 16.26%; the net profit attributable to shareholders was 50.4686 million yuan, a year - on - year increase of 7.81%.

Ultrasonic sensors belong to "traditional hardware". However, against the background of the explosion of artificial intelligence (especially in robots, autonomous driving, and smart homes), they are being given new roles and opportunities.

1. Sensor Fusion

AI - driven robots, unmanned vehicles, and drones do not rely solely on single - vision but need to integrate multi - modal perception such as "cameras + lidar + millimeter - wave radar + ultrasound". The advantage of ultrasound lies in short - range ranging and preventing blind spots, especially in low - speed and short - range obstacle avoidance (such as parking and indoor robot obstacle - avoidance). As a low - cost redundant sensor, the ultrasonic sensor can improve safety when combined with AI algorithms.

2. Robots and Service Robots

Household service robots, warehouse robots, catering robots, medical robots, etc. all need to move safely in narrow spaces. Compared with lidar, ultrasound is cheaper and more resistant to light interference. AI can compensate for the noise and errors of ultrasound through algorithms to make it more intelligent. Ultrasonic sensors can become the standard configuration in the large - scale robot market, providing a "safety baseline for low - speed scenarios".

3. Smart Home and IoT

Smart speakers, automatic doors, smart faucets, lighting control systems, etc. used to use infrared sensors, but now many are switching to AI + ultrasound: Ultrasound can detect presence, such as distinguishing whether a person is still in the room. By combining AI with data learning, it can recognize action patterns and human activity states. The combination of ultrasonic sensors and AI presence detection has become the "sensory neurons" of smart homes.

4. Medical and Health

AI + ultrasonic sensors can be used for non - contact human body detection: breathing, heartbeat, and sleep monitoring. Medical IoT devices can use AI algorithms to extract vital signs from tiny ultrasonic reflection patterns.

5. Intelligent Transportation and Smart City

In parking lots, charging piles, and intelligent traffic monitoring, ultrasonic sensors combined with AI can achieve: parking space detection (vacancy judgment), automatic parking of electric vehicles, and pedestrian flow detection at bus/subway stations. The combination of ultrasonic sensors and AI platforms can provide a data closed - loop at low cost.

6. Low Power Consumption + AI Edge Computing

Ultrasonic sensors themselves have low power consumption and small size, making them suitable for deployment at the edge together with AI chips. In IoT devices, AI can process ultrasonic signals locally, reducing cloud computing and ensuring privacy.

Ultrasonic sensors are expected to "have a second spring" when combined with AI, changing from the traditional "small role in ranging" to a key component for safe, low - cost, and short - range perception in AI systems.

This article does not constitute any investment advice. This article also refers to "21st Century Business Herald" and other sources. Thanks are extended to them all.

This article is from the WeChat public account "Pencil News" (ID: pencilnews). The author is Huang Xiaogui. It is published by 36Kr with permission.