Last weekend, the NIO World model NWM began to be gradually launched on ET9, new ES6, new EC6, new ET5, and new ET5T. On July 1st, NIO CEO Li Bin posted on Weibo about this matter, stating that it marks the achievement of the application performance of NIO's world's first automotive grade 5-nanometer intelligent driving chip, the Shenji NX9031, which has reached its design goals. This fully demonstrates the excellent chip design and software and hardware engineering capabilities of NIO's chip team.
Li Bin also mentioned that during the process of chip development, NIO encountered various unexpected challenges. The most thrilling time was in 2023, when an important partner suddenly decided to end its business in China at a critical moment when the front-end design of the chip was about to be completed. At that time, many people in the industry believed that NIO's chip project was doomed. The NIO team did not blame anyone, withstood the pressure, quickly established their relevant abilities, and in the end, not only did they overcome the difficulties, but the overall progress was at least four months ahead of the original plan, turning bad things into good things.
Li Bin stated that high-end SOC chips require large investment and long cycles, and if they fail, all upfront costs will be in vain. Due to the increasing complexity, it is a great challenge for high-end large chips to be successfully taped out. Being able to light up after chip return is only the first step completed. Only when the functional performance testing meets the standards and true commercial mass production can it be considered a successful research and development. Li Bin said that NIO has paid a lot of tuition fees in exploring cutting-edge technologies, including self-developed chips, and there are still many areas that need to be developed. It is also destined to be questioned and puzzled. However, he believes that NIO's approach of "putting in a lot of effort, taking one step at a time, and achieving long-term success" can bring long-term competitiveness to NIO.