NIO Achieves Breakthrough with In-House 5nm Chip as Chinese Automakers Accelerate Semiconductor Independence

William Li, Founder of NIO, announced the company’s breakthrough on OTA its self-developed 5nm automotive-grade chip, the NX9031, across the flagship models, such as the ET9, ES6, and ET5 series.

“The NX9031 chip, the industry's first 5nm solution for vehicle applications globally, has fundamentally accomplished targeted performance benchmarks.” Li declared.

Challenging Western Dominance in Automotive Chips  

The automotive-grade chip market was long controlled by industry leaders from Western world. NVIDIA and Qualcomm gold more than 60% market share in ADAS and smart cabin chips, while Infineon, NXP, and Renesas take 43% of MCU/power semiconductor segments.

Chinese chip products catch only 10%-15% market share, focusing only on low-end SoCs. For example, Horizon Robotics produces Journey series, and Black Sesame Technologies Huashan series, which only cover L2+ level autonomous driving scenarios.

Strategic Drivers for Localization  

The size of the global automotive semiconductor market is projected to reach USD 77.76 billion by 2030, according to a new report released by The Research Insights. In the meantime, Chinese fast-growing NEV market is requiring a great number of chip-supplies, 90% of automotive-grade chips and 99% of computing chips are from foreign providers, according to l local media ijiwei.

It put Chinese automakers into challenges including supply chain instability caused by political and economic factors, and high cost. Thus, automakers developing its own chips seems a safe and cost-efficient way. According to XPENG, one of Chinese NEV start-ups, the self-developed chip could achieve 100% hardware-software integration, comparing with 60%-70% hardware-software integration by third-party chips.

NIO mentioned that the NX9031 cuts per-vehicle costs by RMB 10,000 (≈USD 1,400).

Overview of Chinese Automakers’ In-House Chip Achievements

Here AutoCango collected the notable chip developments across major Chinese automakers:

- NIO - NX9031

The NX9031 chip utilizes 50B+ transistors, 5nm manufacturing process, enabling 1000+ TOPS computing power. The chips are to be onloaded on NIO’s ET9/ES6/EC6/ET5 models.

- XPENG - Turing chip

XPENG’s AI-focused Turing chip uses 40-core CPU + Dual Image Signal Processor, boosting 2200 TOPS, and supporting L4 level autonomous driving capabilities. The chip will also be used by the Volkswagen, which will inject into its revenue.

- Geely - Stellar One

The Stellar One adopts 7nm manufacturing process, supporting a 512 TOPS computing power. The chips have already entered production for 2025 Lynk & Co models.

- Li Auto

Codenamed “Schumacher”, Li Auto’s in-house AI inference chip utilizes advanced chiplet architecture. It is said that the chip will be developed with 5nm manufacturing process, which will enhance the intelligent driving capabilities of Li Auto.

By the way, the Chinese NEV giant BYD is allocation RMB 100B (≈USD 13.9B) for mid-range chip development, according to local media.

Market Outlook: Rising Localization Rates in China

Due to policy tailwinds and an obvious trend of in-housed development of automotive chips by automakers, the automotive semiconductors localization rate in China is expected to reach 25% by the end of 2025, according to local media.

*(Exchange rate: RMB 7.2 = USD 1)*