Chinese EV maker Nio‘s founder and CEO William Li said on Friday that the company’s in-house developed autonomous driving chip Shenji NX9031 will — for now — only be used in vehicles from the group’s main brand.
In a media roundtable held a day after the launch event for sub-brand Onvo’s second model, the L90 SUV, Li said that Onvo models will not feature the intelligent driving chip, as its production capacity is still limited.
The founder and CEO of the EV maker did not confirm any timeline for a future integration in Onvo models.
Nio‘s chip development began in 2021. To date, the Shanghai-based company has launched two in-house developed chips: the Yangjian chip for LiDAR control, and the autonomous driving chip Shenji NX9031.
The Shenji chip, which was unveiled in late 2023, was first integrated in Nio‘s flagship model, the ET9 sedan.
The ET9 was launched last December, and its First Edition 999 units sold out in 12 hours. Deliveries started in late March across China. The model is priced from 660,000 yuan with BaaS ($92,000) and 788,000 yuan ($108,400) with the battery included.
The chip was later included in the updated versions of the best-selling ES6 and in the EC6 SUV, but also the new ET5 sedan and its station wagon version, the ET5 Touring. The new iterations were launched in mid-May.
Late last year, Nio’s co-founder and president, Lihong Qin, revealed a sharp rise in the number of semiconductor chips used in each vehicle since 2018.
The EV maker’s first models used approximately 3,200 chips each, while in the last quarter of 2024 it had raised to 4,200 chips per vehicle.
For premium smart EVs, such as those produced by Nio, the value of semiconductor components ranges from $2,500 to $5,000.
William Li has recently said the company spent over $300 million on Nvidia Orin-X chips last year, a cost that could be lowered by using its own chips. That way, the brand can save about 10,000 yuan ($1,400) per vehicle.
The Shenji chip represents Nio‘s shift to using chips developed in-house, after previously relying on Nvidia chips in its vehicles. However, both Onvo models still rely on Nvidia products.
The company’s Software Senior Manager Zhang Danyu, responsible for the design of the Shenji chip, said its computing power is roughly four times that of Nvidia Orin-X, Zhang stated.
Last month, local media outlet LatePost reported that Nio was looking to bring in strategic investors for its chip business, however, the company denied those plans.
This happened after the group created a separate legal entity named Anhui Shenji Technology Co., Ltd., with a registered capital of 10 million yuan ($1.4 million), of which the business scope included chip design and sales.
According to the report, Nio intended to sell a minority stake to strategic investors while keeping control of the new entity.
At the same media Q&A held this Friday, the company’s management commented that staff departures at Nio are part of a broader operational restructuring, as the company targets profitability in the final quarter of the year.
Nio veteran and now Onvo‘s chief Fei Shen said he “wouldn’t call it layoffs,” but “adjusting and aligning the team with our current strategy. At least within Onvo, morale is steadily improving.”
William Li further added that pre-orders for the SUV have met internal targets, “based on market feedback.”
Nio aims for Onvo sales to reach 25,000 units per month in the fourth quarter. In June, the brand registered 6,400 vehicles — its highest monthly total this year and second only to its September 2023 debut.
