Nio Chip

Several Chinese investors will inject RMB 2.257 billion ($330 million) into Nio's chip business, valuing the operation at about RMB 8.27 billion.

This brings the post-investment valuation of Nio's chip unit to nearly RMB 10 billion.

Nio has begun external supply of its Shenji NX9031 chip technology, licensing it to an automotive chip company, according to LatePost.

Nio will take orders from other automakers after spinning off its chip business, according to a local media report.

Nio plans to cede a small stake to strategic investors and will retain control over its chip project, according to local media.

Nio's Shenji NX9031 has taped out and is currently in testing, while Xpeng's smart driving chip is already in the process of being taped out.

The chip, called the Shenji NX9031, is built on a 5 nm process and has over 50 billion transistors.

Nio's current use of four Nvidia Drive Orin chips is fine for autonomous driving algorithms, but the next generation smart driving chip should do better, an executive said.

Nio's first chip, a LiDAR master chip, will begin mass production in October, the company previously said.

The Yangjian chip will allow Nio to save about $100 per vehicle and recover its development costs in about a year, William Li said.