Chinese electric vehicle maker NIO is now licensing its proprietary autonomous driving chip—a move that may extend to its robotics venture, which has been under development for the past five years.
The Shanghai-based automaker reported delivering nearly 220,000 premium EVs to customers in 2024 and revealed this strategic shift during its third-quarter earnings call.
CEO William Li’s confirmation of the licensing deal corroborates a mid-November report by Chinese media outlet LatePost, which stated that NIO had reached an agreement with an automotive semiconductor firm.
NIO has reportedly invested billions of dollars into developing its Shenqi NX9031 chip, and this licensing initiative marks the first time the technology will generate external revenue. The chip is already deployed in NIO vehicles, including the ET9 sedan launched in March, which features dual NX9031 chips.
According to the EV manufacturer, the NX9031—packed with 50 billion transistors—delivers four times the computing power of the NVIDIA Orin-X chips previously used in its vehicles.
This announcement follows a series of strategic moves over recent months, signaling NIO’s intensified focus on monetizing its in-house chip technology.
In June, Anhui Shenzhi Technology—formerly NIO’s internal chip division—was spun off as an independent legal entity. This week, NIO confirmed a LatePost report that Anhui Shenzhi has formed a joint venture with automotive chip companies Axera and OmniVision.
During the earnings call, Li stated, “We are leveraging our joint venture partners to market our chips and integrated circuit design capabilities to other customers and potential users.”
He added that applications for the technology would not be limited to the automotive sector.
“We plan to share our chip solutions and technologies with a broader range of industry players, both within and beyond the automotive space,” Li explained. “We see strong potential in deploying this high-performance resonant chip in various devices—such as robots—and will collaborate with technology partners to explore additional use cases and scenarios.”
Li also took the opportunity to highlight the chip’s technical specifications and NIO’s long-term commitment to its success.
“Our NX9031 is the industry’s first intelligent driving chip built on a 5-nanometer process, with mass production deployment in vehicles and full-stack integration that outpaces competitors offering similar performance,” he said. “In the long run, we will continue investing in and advancing chip-related technologies.”
While no financial details of the licensing deal were disclosed, industry insiders suggest that system-on-chip (SoC) technology licenses can command substantial fees.
NIO reported a net loss of approximately $488.9 million for the third quarter. Despite this, Li reaffirmed the company’s goal: “Our business target is to achieve full-year non-GAAP profitability by 2026.”
Li has long expressed confidence in NIO’s chip ambitions. Back in March, at an electric vehicle industry conference, he remarked, “If you want the best chip, come to NIO.”
