TuSimple Holdings Inc., a San Diego, California-based startup with operations in the US and Asia, said on Thursday that it is exploring strategic alternatives, including a possible sale, of its US business.
The Nasdaq-listed firm, which said the decision was “guided by the company’s review of multiple business factors and commercial opportunities”, has appointed Perella Weinberg Partners as the financial advisor for the potential deal, according to an exchange filing.
The firm said that it has built distinct businesses both in the US and the Asia Pacific region since its inception in 2015, which operate with stand-alone engineering teams, software code base, and infrastructure. Should the sale of the US business happen, the firm will shift its focus to the Asia Pacific market and other major global markets.
In an interview with TechCrunch, TuSimple’s CEO Cheng Lu cited geopolitical risks adding that the efforts required to manage the risks outweigh some of the potential value of having operations in both the US and Asia Pacific. “Many years ago, when we first started having operations in both places it was seen as a positive to create value for shareholders. Now I think the geopolitical risk, or perceived geopolitical risk, and the management-employee time commitment to manage these things outweigh some of those potential values of having both operations,” Cheng said.
TuSimple started testing its self-driving technology on Japan’s public roads this month and also completed its first fully autonomous test run on public roads in China, according to the TechCrunch report.
The firm, which went public in 2021, has received a delisting notice from the Nasdaq due to its failure to file two quarterly reports.