NIO VP Reveals $300M Spent on NVIDIA Chips; In-House Chips Slash Costs Significantly

At the 2026 China Automotive Chongqing Forum, Ma Lin, Vice President of NIO, revealed that the company had previously spent a cumulative total of USD 300 million (approximately RMB 2.033 billion) on NVIDIA chips. He noted that with the official deployment of NIO’s self-developed automotive-grade 5nm high-performance intelligent driving chip, "Shenji NX9031," related costs have dropped significantly, delivering substantial cost-saving benefits. Ma also shared that NIO has fully implemented an enterprise-wide operational management system internally, breaking down various operational metrics in detail. He candidly admitted that, according to the company's established standards, his own performance currently meets only the passing threshold. Regarding market trends, Ma pointed out that consumers today increasingly prefer higher-trim vehicle configurations, with orders for high-spec models now accounting for over 90% of total orders and becoming the mainstream. This shift is prompting automakers to adjust their product portfolios, production capacity allocation, and pricing strategies. He added that recent new models have faced pricing challenges, requiring a delicate balance between gross margin targets and the pricing structure across different trim levels—particularly as many flagship models in the market have already dropped below the RMB 500,000 price point, exceeding initial product planning expectations. Public information shows that in July 2024, NIO announced the successful tape-out of its self-developed "Shenji NX9031" chip. Built on a 5nm process, the chip integrates over 50 billion transistors and features a 32-core CPU architecture, LPDDR5x memory (with a data rate of 8,533 Mbps), a high-dynamic-range, high-performance ISP, pixel processing capability of up to 6.5 GPixel/s, and processing latency under 5ms. In April 2024, NIO founder William Li stated that internal management reports indicated the self-developed chip had already generated significant cost savings for the company.