BYD shows: China's self-developed car chips are getting better and better

BYD Semiconductor delivers BYD shows: China's self-developed car chips are getting better and better

2024-12-10 From Henrik Bork | Translated by AI 3 min Reading Time

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It's not the latest model that is stirring the minds of industry experts, but automaker BYD's own car chip, the BYD 9000. It proves that China is rapidly catching up in this sector.

BYD vehicles are enjoying great popularity, with the ten millionth "New Energy Vehicle" recently rolling off the production line.(Image: BYD) — BYD vehicles are enjoying great popularity, with the ten millionth "New Energy Vehicle" recently rolling off the production line.
(Image: BYD)

New car chips are increasingly making more headlines than new car models. This was also the case when BYD presented the new off-road SUV called "Fang Cheng Bao 8" on November 12, 2024. An exciting car full of new features – but the assembled press focused on a single detail, the new BYD-9000 chip in the cockpit.

Not all details are known yet, but the cockpit chip developed by BYD Semiconductor itself is already being called the "most advanced semiconductor of the e-car manufacturer" to date. DigiTimes Asia even dubs it "China's highest quality car chip to date."

It is certain that the new chip for the smart cockpit in BYD models was developed on a 4-nanometer process and uses an Arm V9 architecture. Since not many other details have been released, many rumors are circulating. One claims that the chip is manufactured by TSMC. Another suggests that MediaTek assisted in its development.

"The striking similarity of the chip to an existing solution from MediaTek has sparked speculation about a strategic partnership between BYD and MediaTek," summarizes DigiTimes Asia.

Chip on its own?

BYD and its subsidiary BYD Semiconductor have never claimed to have developed the new, advanced automotive chip entirely on their own. It is normal for suppliers to provide technical assistance in such developments. According to unconfirmed reports, the new BYD chip might be a custom modification of semiconductors from MediaTek's "Dimensity 9000" series.

From a technical standpoint, the new BYD chip is certainly as interesting as its possible inspiration, wherever that may come from. It makes the cockpits 5G-capable, which is becoming increasingly important for navigation and connectivity functions in smart e-cars in China. And up to eleven monitors in the car can be controlled simultaneously via a DDR5 memory interface.

In parallel, there are currently reports in Chinese trade media that BYD and its Taiwanese suppliers TSMC and MediaTek are also working on the development of a new controller chip with a computing power of 80 TOPS. In both cases, with the new cockpit chip and the new controller chip, BYD and its Asian partners are entering a rapidly growing market, that of automotive chips, which is currently still dominated by American, European, and Japanese chip producers by about 90 percent.

BYD thus seems to be preparing in the long term to replace imported products such as the Nvidia Orin to offer advanced navigation solutions like NOA (Navigate on Autopilot) or increasingly better ADAS driver assistance systems with domestic chips.

With a chip like the BYD 9000, not only at BYD but also at other Chinese manufacturers, currently widely used car chips such as the Qualcomm Snapdragon could be replaced.

Cost efficiency in focus

With its in-house developments, BYD primarily aims to produce ever more cheaply. Now the leading e-car manufacturer in China and the world, the automaker is also developing its own power batteries and e-drives for the same reason.

However, global political tensions are currently further intensifying China's appetite for "domestic substitution." As part of its "chip war" with the People's Republic, Washington continues to impose new sanctions on advanced AI chips. More self-sufficiency is therefore a matter of survival for China's chip industry—and in automotive chips, Chinese companies' progress is already the most apparent.

The EU Commission has also just imposed tariffs on BYD and other Chinese manufacturers, artificially raising the price of Chinese electric cars in the European market. This increases the pressure on BYD and other Chinese carmakers like Xiaomi, NIO, Xpeng, and others to develop their own affordable automotive chips— as our German sisterbrand 'Automobil Industrie'reported. (sb)

*Henrik Bork, Founder and General Manager of AsiaWaypoint, Beijing, PR China.

According to its own statements, NIO's autochips are advanced for their benefits. Unnecessarily advanced. That's why there are doubts here and there about the tape-out success story. The picture shows the NIO EL8. Only the ET9 model is to be supplied with its own chips. (Image:Nio)

GAC Aion describes the GAC Aion V as a "pure electric Tyrannosaurus Rex" and officially positions it as a "tough smart driving SUV." (Image:GAC Aion)

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BYD Semiconductor delivers BYD shows: China's self-developed car chips are getting better and better

Chip on its own?

Cost efficiency in focus

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