Li Auto is initiating the first round of external financing for its semiconductor subsidiary. The company is targeting a pre-money valuation of approximately ¥15 billion, which is equivalent to $2.22 billion. The automaker plans to raise several billion yuan to support the independent development of its chip business.
The chip division, which operates under the entity Shanghai Mach Zhixin Intelligent Technology, currently employs about 200 people. The team focuses on AI computing architecture, chip design, and software development for both vehicle and cloud applications. The unit is led by Li Auto CTO Xie Yan.
The company's first mass-produced product, the Mach M100 chip, is built on a 5nm process and provides 1,280 TOPS of computing power. Unlike mainstream GPGPU architectures, it utilizes a dataflow architecture. Li Auto is also working on a cloud inference chip using the same design approach.
This move mirrors the strategy of Nio, whose chip subsidiary Shenji raised ¥2.257 billion in February at a post-money valuation of ¥8.27 billion. Li Auto aims to potentially sell its standardized components, such as chips and silicon carbide modules, to external manufacturers.
