Li Bin of NIO Says No Rush to Enter Embodied AI Robotics Amid Rising Raw Material Costs for Automakers

Li Bin, founder of NIO, stated that the company is not in a rush to enter the embodied artificial intelligence robotics field and will adopt a wait-and-see approach before deciding whether to enter the market. Meanwhile, rising costs have become one of the immediate challenges currently facing automakers. Since 2026, prices of key raw materials—including memory chips, lithium, aluminum, and copper—have continued to climb. Compounded by the U.S.-Iran conflict driving up prices of oil-related products, components such as plastic pellets and tires have also seen price increases, significantly squeezing automakers' gross profit margins.