Multiple automakers raise prices of LiDAR-equipped models amid rising costs of automotive-grade memory chips and power batteries

On April 30, 2026, Changan Qiyuan announced that starting at 00:00 on May 7, it would raise the official manufacturer's suggested retail prices (MSRP) of three variants of its Qiyuan Q07 Tianshu Intelligent Laser Edition—namely the 215 Laser Deluxe, 215 Laser Flagship, and 215 Laser Flagship PLUS—by RMB 3,000 each. The adjusted prices will be RMB 159,800, RMB 169,800, and RMB 179,800 respectively. The price adjustment explicitly applies only to vehicles produced on or after May 7; inventory units manufactured before this date will continue to be sold at the original prices. Just two days earlier, on April 28, BYD announced that effective May 1, the optional “Tianshen Eye B ADAS Laser Package” for select models across its Dynasty Network, Ocean Network, and Fangchengbao brands would see its price increased from RMB 9,900 to RMB 12,000—an increase of RMB 2,100. Both automakers attributed the price hikes to a sharp rise in the cost of automotive-grade memory chips globally. According to statistics, since the beginning of 2026, more than 15 new energy vehicle (NEV) manufacturers have announced price increases or reductions in terminal discounts, with adjustments ranging from RMB 2,000 to RMB 10,000. This round of price adjustments has primarily targeted models equipped with high-end intelligent driving systems featuring LiDAR, which rely heavily on high-capacity, high-speed DRAM chips to process point-cloud data and run large onboard AI models. Market data shows that in Q1 2026, contract prices for commodity DRAM surged by 90%–95% quarter-over-quarter, while NAND Flash prices rose by 55%–60%. Over the past three months, DRAM prices in the automotive sector have jumped by 180%, and spot prices for high-end automotive-grade DDR5 memory have soared by as much as 300%. Institutions including UBS and TrendForce noted that surging demand for high-bandwidth memory from the AI industry has led major memory manufacturers—such as Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron—to prioritize allocating advanced production capacity to data centers, resulting in an automotive-grade memory chip supply fulfillment rate of less than 50%. In addition, battery costs have also risen sharply. The price of battery-grade lithium carbonate has climbed from approximately RMB 75,000 per tonne at the start of 2025 to RMB 171,900 per tonne by March 2026. UBS forecasts it will further increase to RMB 185,000 per tonne in 2026 and projects that global lithium demand will double to 3.4 million tonnes by 2030. Li Bin, Chairman of NIO, stated that rising memory chip prices have become the single largest cost pressure facing the automotive industry, adding an estimated RMB 3,000–5,000 to the cost of each premium NEV. Lu Fang, Chairman of Voyah, also noted that rapidly escalating memory chip prices are severely disrupting the supply chain and indicated that vehicle price increases are highly likely. Voyah is responding by implementing internal cost-reduction measures, leveraging economies of scale, and accelerating domestic alternatives. Industry analysts believe that due to the long investment cycles and continuously expanding capital expenditures required for AI infrastructure, automakers remain at a disadvantage in competing for semiconductor capacity, making it difficult to alleviate cost pressures in the short term. Cui Dongshu, Secretary General of the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA), pointed out that dual pressures from upstream raw materials and chips have significantly eroded automotive industry profits, intensifying overall operational challenges.