Weilai announced the successful tape-out of its 5nm chip. Why didn’t Huawei and BYD actively promote the same thing?

Will China's new energy vehicles be strangled? High-end chips will still be a problem that most high-tech industries in China will have to face sooner or later.

Perhaps in preparation for a rainy day, NIO recently announced the successful tape-out of the world's first 5nm smart driving chip, the NIO Shenji NX9031.

According to official statements from NIO, the chip has more than 50 billion transistors and is the world's first smart driving chip using this process. One chip can achieve the performance of four flagship chips in the industry.

If this news is true, it will definitely be good news for China's high-end chip industry.

But the key question is - is it true?

First of all, one thing is certain, the so-called "the world's first 5nm automotive-grade chip" is not true.

Just last month, automotive chip giant NXP released the S32CoreRide central computing solution in Hangzhou, which has a built-in 5nm automotive-grade chip;

Last September, South Korean semiconductor design solution provider AD Technology announced that it would work with Samsung Electronics to develop automotive chips based on 5nm process.

In February last year, Samsung and Ambarella Semiconductor reached a cooperation and jointly launched the CV3-AD685 system-level chip based on the 5nm process technology;

In other words, many manufacturers in the industry are eyeing 5nm chips, but their progress varies. In fact, not many manufacturers are deliberately vying for the title of "the first 5nm chip."

Weilai's statement may be a publicity stunt to boost the outside world's confidence in Weilai's independent research and development, and also to boost its stock price. For Weilai, confidence and stock price are more important than its operating conditions.

High-end chips are a concern for many industries in China, and any breakthrough will be welcomed by the capital market; at the product level, it can also enhance the high-end image of its products.

Huawei is the best example. The high-end image of Huawei mobile phones is brought by Kirin chips, and the popularity of the Mate 60 series of mobile phones is also because it has the halo of "the return of Kirin chips".

In addition, if NIO really comes up with a 5nm chip, it can also respond to external doubts.

NIO is a rare domestic automaker whose marketing expenses are equal to its R&D expenses, both of which reached the 10 billion level in 2023. Considering NIO's long-term losses, this model has been questioned.

Research and development is all about results. No matter how much money is spent, as long as there are results, it is good. If NIO really makes a breakthrough in the 5nm chip field, then the doubts about NIO's "independent research and development" will disappear.

Judging from the current situation, there should be no doubt that the Shenji NX9031 chip has been successfully taped out. Regardless of whether it is the first 5nm chip or not, it can be regarded as a breakthrough in China's semiconductor industry.

So, what can this chip bring to NIO?

First of all, it is certain that the Shenji NX9031 is unlikely to bring any significant boost to NIO's sales in the short term.

The reason is simple. The Shenji NX9031 chip has only been successfully taped out, not mass-produced.

For a chip, a successful tape-out means that its design, manufacturing, testing and other links have been completed, and that its functions and performance meet the requirements. However, in order to achieve true mass production, it is also necessary to verify the reliability of manufacturing equipment, manufacturing processes, and design tools, as well as sufficient funds to support production.

At present, what domestic semiconductor manufacturers lack most is manufacturing equipment and manufacturing processes, such as the difficult lithography machines and the 5nm and more advanced production processes controlled by TSMC. This is a link that NIO is unlikely to break through in the short term.

Huawei's Kirin chip was stuck in these links, which led to Huawei's mobile phone being completely restarted last year. If nothing unexpected happens, Weilai's 5nm chip will also require a difficult "breakthrough" in manufacturing technology.

From the perspective of technology, capital, production capacity and other aspects, it is unlikely that NIO will achieve a comprehensive breakthrough in the field of 5nm chips, and the prospects are not optimistic. Moreover, even if this 5nm chip is really mass-produced and installed in cars, the impact it will have may not be as great as imagined.

There is an interesting phenomenon: Huawei and BYD, the two major domestic automotive-grade chip giants, do not seem to be in a hurry to develop their own 5nm chips; when people pay attention to a car's intelligent driving system, they seem to rarely compare the performance of the chip itself.

This is not because manufacturers and consumers are "stupid". You know, according to the style of Chinese manufacturers, they have already started to "compete" in areas where they can.

Huawei is most likely unable to take care of it; BYD simply chose Nvidia's autonomous driving chip, and its own dedicated assisted driving chip is not expected to be successfully taped out until the end of this year.

The two giants with independent research and development capabilities did not take the initiative to "compete" because the priority of 5nm assisted driving chips is not that high at this stage.

The chip almost determines the overall performance of a mobile phone, but this is not the case in the field of automotive chips, because automotive-grade chips do not have such high requirements for chip manufacturing process. If the manufacturer's own process is not advanced enough, as long as the chip area is increased, it can still meet the needs.

Compared with mobile phones, there is much more space in cars for chips. Chinese mobile phone manufacturers are stuck in high-end chips, but this problem has basically not affected domestic new energy manufacturers. Here is the reason. For car manufacturers, the lack of advanced process technology is not a big problem.

At this stage, the greatest value of the Shenji NX9031 is not because it improves the performance of NIO cars, but because it proves that NIO’s “full-stack self-research” has finally borne fruit and can appease shareholders and investors.

In fact, NIO is indeed facing a lot of problems at present, and the reason for these problems is not because it lacks high-end chips; in this case, breakthroughs in high-end assisted driving chips will not solve NIO's problems.

Since the beginning of this year, NIO's sales have continued to rise, with sales of more than 20,000 vehicles for two consecutive months in May and June. However, in June, Ideal's sales reached 47,000 vehicles, and Wenjie also exceeded 40,000 vehicles. NIO has 8 models on sale, but the sales volume is only about half of Ideal and Wenjie. This situation is actually not healthy.

Now NIO should come up with 1-2 real hit models as soon as possible. Since 2024, no model of NIO has achieved monthly sales of more than 10,000. As a mainstream manufacturer, such results are obviously not justifiable to the capital market.

Achieving certain breakthroughs in assisted driving chips is indeed a good thing for NIO, but NIO has too many problems to solve, including small sales volume, lack of real star models, perennial losses, etc., which are more urgent than the "lack of high-end chips."

In addition, there are various doubts about NIO's special battery swap model. It needs to attract more users as soon as possible and find a clear profit model. NIO has been listed for more than 6 years and has accumulated losses of more than 80 billion yuan. As China's new energy market has entered the knockout stage, it needs to end this huge loss as soon as possible.

As for the 5nm chip, if it can really be mass-produced, it will be icing on the cake, but what NIO needs now is a timely boost in sales.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.