Nio registered on Thursday two chip subsidiaries in Hangzhou as the Chinese electric vehicle maker accelerates efforts to commercialize its semiconductor technology and reduce the financial burden of years of in-house development.
The premium EV brand developed two in-house chips since launching its semiconductor unit in 2021: the Yangjian chip for LiDAR control and the Shenji NX9031 for autonomous driving computation, which was unveiled in late 2023.
The wholly-owned branches, registered on Thursday through Nio‘s chip unit Anhui Shenji, are located in the city’s Binjiang District.
Both are headed by Bai Jian, Nio‘s vice president of hardware, according to public registration filings.
The Anhui Shenji Technology had established a separate subsidiary in mid-2025 to house chip operations that previously functioned as an internal business unit.
The expansion to Hangzhou marks Nio‘s first chip presence outside its core cities of Beijing, Shanghai, and Hefei, and comes as the company seeks external customers for technology it has spent billions of yuan developing.
Monetize Chip Investment
Nio has been working to turn its chip unit into a revenue source.
Last November, the company confirmed it is licensing its proprietary autonomous driving chip to customers in the automotive and robotics industries — its first commercialization of the technology.
The founder and CEO William Li disclosed the arrangement during the third-quarter earnings call, saying Nio is leveraging partners “to sell our chip and also our IC design capabilities to other clients and also potential users.”
Li has previously said the R&D investment in Nio‘s Shenji chip was sufficient to have funded the construction of 1,000 battery swap stations.
The company spun off its chip business into an independent entity in mid-2025 and Li has said he would not rule out external investment.
Recruiting AI Engineers
Job listings show Nio is hiring AI Compiler Technical Engineers and AI Operator Development Engineers in Hangzhou — roles previously only available in Shanghai and Hefei.
The recruitment suggests Nio is adapting its Shenji chip for third-party AI algorithms, according to local media reports.
Nio unveiled the Shenji chip in late 2023, claiming computing power of approximately 1,000 TOPS — equivalent to four Nvidia Orin-X chips.
The chip debuted with the ET9 flagship sedan in March 2025 and is expected to also be equipping the upcoming Nio ES9 — a luxurious SUV which is tentatively scheduled to be launched on April 10.
Recent Partnerships
The Hangzhou move follows Nio‘s November joint venture with Axera and OmniVision in Chongqing, registered with 100 million yuan in capital.
Axera, headquartered in Ningbo, entered the automotive chip market in 2023 and supplies Geely, the Stellantis-backed brand Leapmotor, Ford, and GAC-Toyota venture.
The company reportedly filed confidentially for a Hong Kong IPO this week.
StarPower Semiconductor, also based in Zhejiang, supplies the silicon carbide chip module in Nio‘s most expensive model, the ET9.
