Chinese EV maker Xpeng says partnership with Nvidia unaffected by US trade sanctions
- Xpeng said local solutions for car chips have emerged despite not being as advanced as imports, but it would keep its options open with domestic suppliers
- As of June last year, Nvidia – which is not allowed to ship its advanced AI chips to China – had about a 52 per cent share of the global navigate-on-autopilot market
“We’re very happy with our collaboration with Nvidia and other silicon partners,” Brian Gu Hong-di, vice-chairman and president of Xpeng Motors, said during a press conference on Thursday on the sidelines of the 2024 Beijing Auto Show.
Gu said local solutions for car chips have emerged despite not being as advanced as imports, adding that Xpeng is keeping its options open with domestic suppliers.
Although Nvidia’s autonomous driving chips are the predominant hardware for supporting assist-driving and more advanced self-driving capabilities developed by carmakers in China, mainland suppliers are quickly catching up amid the country’s drive for self-reliance in semiconductors, especially given that most auto chips do not require cutting-edge manufacturing technologies.
As of June last year, Nvidia – which is not allowed to ship its advanced AI chips to China due to US trade sanctions – had about a 52 per cent share of the global navigate-on-autopilot market, signing cooperation agreements with 25 automotive original equipment makers globally, according to data from Gasgoo Institute, a Shanghai-based research company.
Nio’s flagship ET5 and ES7 sedans, Li Auto’s L9 model and Xpeng’s G9 all come equipped with Nvidia’s Orin chips. Auto chips are seen by Washington as a less sensitive area of the semiconductor market when it comes to setting trade sanctions.