- Li Auto's in-house chip development is not following a trend, but to solve problems that current suppliers' technologies cannot overcome, its CEO said.
- The all-new flagship SUV, Li L9 Livis, will be the first to be equipped with two M100 chips and is scheduled to be officially launched on May 15.
Li Auto (NASDAQ: LI) has officially unveiled its in-house developed Mach M100 chip, after mentioning the smart driving chip several times previously.
The Chinese electric vehicle (EV) maker announced some specifications of the M100 chip on Weibo on Tuesday, and the all-new flagship SUV Li L9 Livis will be the first to feature the new product.
The M100 chip is manufactured using a 5-nanometer automotive-grade process, with a single-chip computing power of up to 1,280 TOPS, the highest in the world, according to the company.
The company's VLA 2.1 large model was developed synchronously with the new M100 product, reducing end-to-end processing latency by 40% and making it twice as fast as human reaction, Li Auto claimed.
Li Auto's in-house developed chip is not just following a trend, but is intended to solve bottlenecks that current supplier technologies cannot overcome, Li Xiang, founder, chairman, and CEO of Li Auto, said today.
The massive shift in demand in the AI (artificial intelligence) era will drive a fundamental transformation in chip architecture, and the dynamic data flow architecture adopted by the M100 breaks through traditional efficiency bottlenecks, Li said.
Li compared the company's strategy to Apple's full-stack independent design, stating that Li Auto is synchronously developing chips, operating systems, large models, and hardware.
This joint hardware-software design model aims to provide users with an exceptional embodied experience, thereby truly bringing AI technology into the complex physical world, he said.
The upcoming Li L9 Livis is equipped with two M100 chips, achieving a total computing power of 2,560 TOPS.
The model began pre-sales on April 24, with a pre-sales price of 559,800 yuan ($82,384.09).
The flagship model is also equipped with a drive-by-wire chassis and is scheduled to be officially launched and begin deliveries simultaneously on May 15.
The move makes Li Auto another Chinese EV maker to launch a in-house developed smart driving chip, following Nio Inc (NYSE: NIO) and Xpeng (NYSE: XPEV).
Nio's Shenji NX9031 smart driving chip has already been used in all models of the Nio main brand and is beginning to be adopted by models of its sub-brand Onvo.
Xpeng is also applying its in-house developed Turing chip to its models, and is attempting to improve its profit margins and attractiveness through tiered hardware and software options.
($1 = 6.8000 yuan)
