Melexis’s 2025 TOF sensor revenue increased 112.01% year-on-year, and its flagship products have entered the supply chain of leading collaborative robot manufacturers in North America in volume, replacing some low-cost LiDAR solutions. This event occurred at the time of the financial report disclosure on May 5, 2026, marking the first large-scale delivery by a Chinese company to mainstream overseas robot integrators in the mid-range 3D sensing hardware field. The directly affected niche industries include collaborative robot manufacturing, industrial sensor module integration, intelligent mobile chassis development, and export-oriented embedded system solution providers, and it is worth paying attention to the structural impact it brings on mid-range 3D sensing technology route selection, BOM cost structure, and localization response capability.

Event Overview

According to the financial report information released by Melexis on May 5, 2026, the company’s TOF sensor business revenue in 2025 increased 112.01% year-on-year; its flagship TOF sensor products have passed UL 62368-1 and IEC 61000-4-3 EMC certification, and have been introduced in volume into the supply chain of leading collaborative robot customers in North America, replacing some low-cost LiDAR solutions. The core advantages of the products are explicitly described as small size, low power consumption, and strong resistance to ambient light interference.

Which niche industries will be affected

Collaborative robot (Cobot) manufacturers: Because TOF sensors undertake key perception functions in scenarios such as obstacle avoidance, hand-eye coordination, and safety monitoring, this introduction means that OEMs can choose more compact, lower-power 3D sensing solutions for mid-range models, affecting their structural design redundancy, battery life configuration, and thermal management solutions. The impact is mainly reflected in a broader BOM selection window, a shortened validation cycle for domestic substitution, and higher requirements for the response speed of multi-dimensional perception module suppliers.

Industrial sensor module integrators: The Melexis solution needs to work with optical lenses, drive circuits, and algorithm SDKs to form a complete module. Its volume introduction indicates that module manufacturers with rapid adaptation capabilities are more likely to enter the secondary supply chain of overseas robot customers. The impact is mainly reflected in increased requirements for TOF module calibration consistency, temperature drift compensation capability, and EMC compatibility test coverage.

Intelligent mobile chassis (AMR/AGV) developers: Such companies often reuse collaborative robot perception architectures for low-cost upgrades. The enhanced robustness of TOF solutions in indoor dynamic environments may drive them to replace some 2D+ultrasonic fusion solutions in light-load, high-frequency short-distance handling scenarios. The impact is mainly reflected in increased attention to technical indicators such as real-time processing bandwidth of near-field 3D point clouds and latency of edge-side depth map generation.

Export-oriented embedded system solution providers: Suppliers of robot control boards or main control modules for the North American market need to simultaneously adapt to the communication protocols (such as I2C/MIPI), power supply timing, and interrupt trigger logic of new TOF sensors. The impact is mainly reflected in increased SDK integration workload, greater demand for EMC rectification coordination, and stricter customer review of delivery schedule stability and documentation completeness.

What key points should relevant companies or practitioners pay attention to, and how should they respond at present

Pay attention to subsequent official statements or certification expansion developments

At present, it is only confirmed that UL 62368-1 (audio-video and ICT equipment safety) and IEC 61000-4-3 (radiated immunity) certifications have been passed; it has not yet been disclosed whether ISO 13849 (functional safety) or IEC 61508 related levels are covered. Relevant companies should continue tracking whether Melexis launches higher-level industrial safety certifications, as this progress will directly affect the boundaries of its application in safety-critical robot scenarios (such as human-robot shared areas).

Pay attention to the penetration pace of key categories in mid-range models

This replacement target is clearly defined as “some low-cost LiDAR solutions” rather than high-precision long-range LiDAR. What is more worthy of attention at present is: the actual installation ratio change of this TOF solution in collaborative robot models with load capacity ＜5kg and working radius ＜1.5m; it is recommended that OEMs and module companies monitor BOM update announcements of corresponding models from North American customers on a quarterly basis to identify technology switching nodes.

Distinguish the actual implementation gap between certification approval and mass production delivery

Passing EMC and safety certifications is a prerequisite for market entry, but it is not equivalent to stable large-scale delivery capability. From an industry perspective, it is necessary to observe, starting from Q2 2026, the actual installation rate of this solution in publicly shipped models of North American customers, the return rate, and the distribution of customer technical support ticket types, in order to determine whether it has moved beyond the “validation completed” stage into the “scaled application” stage.

Assess in advance the readiness of your own production line to adapt to TOF modules

Manufacturing and integration companies should review the placement yield of existing SMT production lines for TOF chips in 0.4mm-pitch CSP packages, the compatibility of reflow soldering temperature profiles, and the AOI capability to identify micro optical windows; it is recommended to complete trial production validation of at least one reference design before Q3 to avoid delivery delays caused by mismatched packaging processes.

Editor’s Viewpoint / Industry Observation

Observably, this event is better understood as a signal of maturing supply chain capability in China’s mid-tier 3D sensing segment—not yet a broad-based technology displacement. The fact that a domestic TOF sensor has achieved certified, volume-level adoption at a North American robotics leader indicates progress in reliability validation and cross-border engineering collaboration, but remains confined to cost-sensitive, short-range perception use cases. Analysis shows the impact is currently most salient for companies operating at the intersection of hardware integration and regional compliance management; it does not signify imminent replacement of high-accuracy LiDAR in navigation or outdoor applications. The industry should continue monitoring whether similar certification and delivery milestones emerge across other Chinese sensor vendors in 2026–2027, as that would strengthen the case for structural shift rather than isolated success.

Conclusion: this event is not a sign of a generational technological leap, but rather a demonstration that China’s 3D sensing hardware supply chain has achieved reliable delivery capability under specific performance-cost-size constraints. At present, it is more appropriate to understand it as a verifiable milestone in the diversification process of mid-range collaborative robot perception solutions, and its long-term significance depends on the reproducibility and stability performance of similar products among more international customers and in more application scenarios.

Information source note: Melexis’s 2025 annual report released on May 5, 2026; items pending continued observation: actual installation data of North American customer models starting from Q2 2026, progress of functional safety certifications such as ISO 13849, and similar breakthroughs by other domestic TOF manufacturers.