The Top Prophecy of the Week

The Brightest-Shining Leader in Life After Silicon December 12, 2020 UNSUBSCRIBE | ARCHIVES “What’s happening right now is 100% un-American” Have you seen this? It’s completely un-American and could be the #1 threat to your money right now. It’s why a former Managing Director at Goldman Sachs says, “It’s a rigged system… and regular Americans need to know what’s really happening.” You can catch her full take by going here now. WARNING: This video comes down tomorrow at midnight. Don’t wait, click here now. The Brightest-Shining Leader in Life After Silicon Dear Daily Prophecy Reader, The lights are on for Luminar! One of my favorite literary tightrope-dancing activities — keeping the adrenalin pumping — is to write books introducing companies before they go public or industries before they sweep the world. Sometimes, as with Micron (MU), the thematic company in my Spirit of Enterprise (1984) (which also now has a market cap of $80 billion) I hit the bullseye. Sometimes, as with Foveon in The Silicon Eye, it doesn’t work out. But that book was mostly about Carver Mead and his entrepreneurial Caltech students. And about his launch of Synaptics (SYNA), with Federico Faggin, which still is thriving with its touchpads and biosensors for smartphones. In Wealth and Poverty (1980), citing the “promethean promise” of such companies as Intel, Texas Instruments, and National Semiconductor, I wrote of: “The callow geniuses of the semiconductor and microprocessor revolution… turning the world’s most common matter, the substance of sand, into an incomparable resource of mind: a silicon chip the size of a fly [that] extends the reach of the human brain incomparably further than oil, steel and machines had multiplied man’s muscle… transforming the world of work and forging at last the long predicted age of computers…” Well, 40 years later, they are still at it. Combining the themes of Microcosm (1989) and Telecosm (2000) is my book of 2018, Life After Google. It devoted two chapters to Peter Thiel’s “fellows,” lured out of college to start companies, and his venture firm 1517 (I’m a founding partner). The leading entrepreneur in the chapter was Austin Russell of Luminar corporation who began his optics innovations at the age of 12 in Newport Beach, CA, and incorporated Luminar at age 17 to provide imager “eyes” for self-driving cars. We’re on the cusp of a potential $11.7 trillion revolution… Big News for Luminar “Russell resolved to start from scratch and build entirely new integrated systems with each least fifty-fold more resolution and tenfold more range than the prevailing standard…To Russell, nothing matters but performance. There is no long run demand for a system that kills people. Aim at low cost, and you will not achieve sufficient performance to have an enduring business. After a sufficient system is devised, demand will foster economies of scale and learning curves that bring the price down in time.” You may have read about Russell and Luminar last week in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, or other publications heralding its blockbuster public offering that came out at $3.4 billion valuation and ended the day at close to $10 billion. Luminar has received a landmark design win from the global ADAS (advanced driver-assistance systems) leader Mobileye of Israel to supply lidar for Mobileye’s Autonomous Vehicle (AV) Series solution. In addition, Mobileye will collaborate with Luminar to use its lidar for the first generation of its level-4 Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) pilot and driverless fleet in key markets around the world — including Israel, United Arab Emirates, France, and South Korea. Level 4 mobility is part of a set of guidelines determined by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) to describe the differing level of autonomy in driverless cars. There are five levels, with level 1 being the most basic of driver assisted options, such as backup warning signals, and level 5, full-autonomy, the most advanced. Level 1 has been around for years and level 2 is becoming commonplace. Level 4, as targeted by Mobileye’s first-generation MaaS system, includes hands-off driving for long periods of time. Mobileye was bought by Intel about five years ago for around $15.3 billion. The Intel subsidiary is one of the world’s largest suppliers of camera-based sensors used by most top automakers in their advanced driver assistance systems. Luminar has been collaborating with Mobileye for over a year. In addition, Luminar is also working on a number of other, unannounced, major next-generation autonomous robo-taxi programs, with particular focus on those closer to series production. A colossal $2.8 trillion more to play with.... The stock market will never be the same again. Especially because this event could bring an additional $2.8 TRILLION worth of assets into play. The developing situation will also disrupt the $7 TRILLION banking industry and the $3.45 TRILLION online retail industry. The best part is... this is still in its early stages of development. Which means you could take advantage of this early stage to become extremely rich.  Click here. In another press release issued earlier in November, Luminar announced that it has: Engaged with 50% more OEM programs for series production deals to be awarded over the next 24 months (now 12, up from eight in August). Obtained exclusive supply agreements for all three of its key lidar components (receiver, ASIC, and laser), locking in an estimated sub-$100 volume hardware cost for its Lidar. Concluded its contract manufacturing selection process for series production of Iris (Luminar’s integrated system including software and hardware); lead partner and factory selected in Mexico. Completed key milestones for powering series production vehicles in 2022, including shipping Iris B-samples to lead series production partner Volvo Cars. Raised its target 2020 order book from $1 billion to approximately $1.3 billion due to new OEM deals and increased existing customer volume outlooks. The fact that Luminar has increased its major series production deals by half and its order book by nearly a third in three months shows that Austin Russell’s unique and superior technology is gaining traction quickly. Lead partner Volvo has put Austin under pressure to complete a series of very demanding milestones leading up commercial production in 2022 models, and he is executing flawlessly. We don’t doubt that many of Volvo’s competitors are taking note, helping to spur increased interest in Luminar. Genius Who Predicted Smartphones Has New Forecast... Today’s Prophecy Luminar should easily standalone without meaningful competition in its target markets through at least the rest of this decade, and not just because Austin has obtained dozens of patents, with more pending. Even more important is that his new and novel approach to lidar for autonomous vehicles took nearly a decade to develop and bring to production stage. Even if a crafty, large-cap corporation tried to “sneak around” the patents, it would take years to develop a similar approach from scratch. Then the competitor would need to successfully complete the traditional three-year development cycle for new model cars before starting commercial production. All of this assumes the competitor could get its lidar manufactured. Not many manufacturers have the expertise necessary to produce the unique, cutting-edge mixed-signal chips that Austin requires. Now that Luminar has exclusive supply agreements for its key lidar components, Austin has eliminated some of the few supply options a competitor might have. The agreements also guarantee to Luminar volume fabrication of chips at lower costs. A little reported Luminar asset is its global reach. Not only is Luminar partly owned by Daimler of Germany and in a partnership with Mobileye-Intel of Israel but its close ties with Volvo and Volvo Mack Trucks give it entrée into China and Singapore. Volvo car group is owned by Zhejiang Geely Holding of China. But perhaps most important, Russell’s visionary leadership goes far beyond automobiles. As a producer of unique mixed signal chips and software using exotic materials, Luminar is well positioned to become a leader in life after silicon. Regards, George Gilder Editor, Gilder's Daily Prophecy January 15: America’s Financial Extinction Event? The election is over… The corrupt media declared Joe Biden the winner… And that bad news is about to get a whole lot worse… Because the prophetic analyst who predicted the subprime mortgage meltdown… the financial crisis of 2008… and Brexit… Just issued another shocking prediction… If you and your family are not prepared for what he says is coming your way on January 15… You need to take action now. Click here for the full details. To end your Gilder's Daily Prophecy e-mail subscription and associated external offers sent from Gilder's Daily Prophecy, feel free to click here. If you are having trouble receiving your Gilder's Daily Prophecy subscription, you can ensure its arrival in your mailbox by whitelisting Gilder's Daily Prophecy. Gilder's Daily Prophecy is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. Please read our Privacy Statement. For any further comments or concerns please email us at GildersDailyProphecy@threefounderspublishing.com. 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