Nio‘s founder and chief executive officer disclosed on Tuesday that the company’s semiconductor subsidiary has completed tapeout on a second chip product and is preparing it for mass production.
The comments, made on Nio‘s fourth-quarter 2025 earnings call by William Li — an hour after the EV maker reported its first-ever profitable quarter since its 2014 inception.
The update on the in-house developed chips marks the most concrete one yet on efforts to turn a multi-billion yuan technology investment into a standalone commercial business.
Late last month, Nio‘s chip unit, GeniTech Co., Ltd. — known as Shenji — closed its first external funding round at a valuation approaching 10 billion yuan ($1.4 billion).
The New Chip
The second chip is described by Li as a high-end, advanced-process product, but one engineered for a broader client base than the flagship Shenji NX9031, which was developed primarily to power Nio‘s own premium vehicle lineup.
The founder and CEO characterised the new product as “a very competitive chip product.”
He said it has already achieved successful tapeout — the stage at which a chip design is finalised and submitted to a foundry for fabrication, an irreversible milestone in semiconductor development — and is now in preparations for mass production.
The Roots
Nio launched its semiconductor unit in 2021 and has since developed two chips: the Yangjian, designed for LiDAR control, and the Shenji NX9031 for autonomous driving computation.
The NX9031 — described by Nio as the world’s first automotive-grade 5-nanometer intelligent driving chip — completed its own tapeout in July 2024 and was first deployed on the company’s flagship ET9 sedan when deliveries began in March 2025.
More than 150,000 units have since been installed across the ET9, ES6, EC6 and ES8 models.
Computing power is approximately four times that of Nvidia’s Orin-X, with a memory bandwidth of 546 gigabytes per second, roughly double that of Nvidia’s Thor-U, according to Nio‘s chip division head Zhang Danyu.
The company’s CEO has previously stated that the R&D cost for the NX9031 was equivalent to building 1,000 battery swap stations — implying total expenditure of several billion yuan — and that Nio spent more than $300 million buying customised Nvidia chips in 2024 alone.
The Shenji programme was designed explicitly to reduce that reliance and deliver approximately 10,000 yuan ($1,400) in cost savings per vehicle within Nio‘s own production.
External Clients and New Verticals
Li said Nio is already in active discussions with external clients, including automotive companies that have expressed interest in the chip products.
He named robotaxi operators and companies working in embodied artificial intelligence as specific target sectors, saying Shenji sees a “good fit” for its products in those areas.
The disclosure represents a progression from November 2025, when Li confirmed on the third-quarter earnings call that Nio was licensing the NX9031 to an unnamed external automotive semiconductor company — its first commercialisation of chip technology.
At that point, Li described the arrangement as non-exclusive and outlined two distribution routes: direct sales from Nio, and partners acting as tier-one suppliers to other carmakers.
On Tuesday he indicated that the pipeline of potential external customers has broadened and that discussions are already underway.
The February Fundraising
Two weeks before Tuesday’s earnings call, Nio and Shenji finalised definitive agreements for the unit’s first external equity financing.
Chinese investors will inject 2.257 billion yuan ($330 million) into Shenji in exchange for a collective 27.3% stake, valuing the business at close to 10 billion yuan after the investment.
A Nio subsidiary will retain a controlling 62.7% interest and will continue to consolidate Shenji’s financial results.
The remaining 10% is held for a Shenji employee share incentive plan — a structure that signals Nio is positioning the unit for potential standalone growth with built-in mechanisms to retain technical talent.
Nio‘s filing did not disclose the investors’ identities or the post-money valuation.
Local media outlet LatePost separately reported that participants include the Hefei local industry fund, Nio Capital, IDG and an unnamed listed semiconductor company, with a post-investment valuation approaching 10 billion yuan.
Outlet Leiphone reported that subsequent financing rounds have already commenced.
Proceeds are directed primarily toward advanced chip research and development and commercial expansion.
Shenji’s Structural Build-Out
The unit has expanded its footprint in parallel with its commercial ambitions.
In November last year, Anhui Shenji Technology formed a joint venture with AXera Semiconductor and OmniVision Technologies, registered in Chongqing with capital of 100 million yuan, with AXera holding a 36.4% stake as the largest shareholder.
AXera supplies automotive chips to Geely, the Stellantis-backed brand Leapmotor, Ford and GAC-Toyota.
In January, Nio registered two further subsidiaries in Hangzhou through Shenji — its first chip presence outside Beijing, Shanghai and Hefei — with job listings pointing to work adapting the chip for third-party AI algorithms.
Looking Ahead
Beyond the second chip, Li said Shenji’s Shanghai research entity is also developing a next-generation high-performance chip for Nio’s own future products.
The NX9031 is expected to equip the upcoming ES9 flagship SUV, scheduled for a technology unveiling on April 9 and deliveries from June 1.
