Li Xiang, founder, chairman, and CEO of Li Auto, showcases the Mach M100 chip at Li Auto’s Livis Day in June 2026. Credit: Li Auto
- Li Auto’s in-house developed Mach M100 chip is already in mass production on the new L9, L8 and L6 models.
- If Li Auto injects its chip business into the new company to operate independently, it will follow the path of its peer Nio.
Li Auto (NASDAQ: LI) has set up a new company whose business scope covers chip design, a move that could signal the Chinese electric vehicle (EV) maker is considering operating its in-house developed semiconductor business independently.
The new company, Xinchuang Zhihe (Shanghai) Technology Co Ltd, was registered on July 13 with a registered capital of 100,000 yuan ($14,724), according to business registration information. Local media outlet Chedongxi first reported the matter on Monday.
The new company is registered in the Shanghai Free Trade Zone, with a business scope including technical services, technology development, integrated circuit chip design and services, as well as integrated circuit chip and product sales.
The company’s legal representative is Wang Yang, and it is a subsidiary of a Li Auto affiliate in Shanghai.
Li Auto’s public information shows that Wang currently serves as the company’s joint company secretary. He joined the company in July 2020 as head of capital markets, with a prior background in private equity investment and wealth management.
Having an executive with capital markets experience serve as the legal representative could hint at future financing arrangements for the chip entity, though Li Auto has not commented on the matter.
Li Auto officially unveiled its in-house developed Mach M100 chip on May 12. The chip is built on a 5 nm automotive-grade process, with a single chip delivering 1,280 TOPS of computing power.
The Mach M100 chip is already in mass production on the new Li L9, L8 and L6, with the dual-chip version offering a combined computing power of 2,560 TOPS.
Li Xiang, Li Auto’s founder, chairman and CEO, previously said the company developed its own chips not to prove its technical capabilities, but to let AI (artificial intelligence) truly run in the physical world.
He said that the AI era is a competition of joint design capabilities across chip architecture, operating systems, models, compilers, hardware design and manufacturing processes.
If Li Auto injects its chip business into the new company to operate independently, it will follow the path of its peer Nio Inc (NYSE: NIO).
Nio established its chip subsidiary GeniTech Co Ltd (Shenji) in June 2025. The unit has completed nearly 3 billion yuan in financing, with a post-investment valuation of about 8.27 billion yuan.
Shenji made its first independent appearance at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference 2026 (WAIC 2026) held in Shanghai last week, showcasing multiple chips covering intelligent assisted driving, embodied AI and agent inference.
Xpeng (NYSE: XPEV) has also been using its in-house developed Turing chip in its vehicles.
BYD plans to debut its in-house developed Xuanji A3 chip in a new production vehicle under the Denza brand in 2027.
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