① NVIDIA's Thor self-driving chip is late, domestic automakers choose to develop it in-house. ② Intel launched a vehicle integration technology platform, aiming to demonstrate its determination to transform.
The Star Daily reported on January 10 (reporter Tang Zhixiao) that in recent years, the automotive industry has been accelerating towards the fast lane of intelligent transformation, and in-vehicle chips, as the 'strongest brain' in this transformation process, play a decisive role. CES has already become a 'stage' for the upstream and downstream industries of autos to showcase cutting-edge technologies.
During CES 2025, $Qualcomm (QCOM.US)$ showcased Demo cars equipped with the Snapdragon cockpit supreme platform and Snapdragon Ride supreme. And $NVIDIA (NVDA.US)$ launched the dual-purpose chip 'Thor' for cars and robots, and expressed its intention to collaborate with Toyota Motor to develop the next generation of self-driving technology.
At this CES, there are also many domestic automakers and automotive-grade chip manufacturers participating, including those showcasing the latest smart cockpit and smart driving features, such as $ZEEKR (ZK.US)$ In addition, there are also showcases of related components for Smart Automobile, such as $BLACK SESAME (02533.HK)$ self-developed high-performance chips, $Hesai (HSAI.US)$ and high-performance 3D Lidar, etc.
Although the NVIDIA Thor chip was delayed, it has finally arrived.
In September 2022, NVIDIA officially released the new generation SoC chip Thor, officially claiming that its single-chip computing power can reach a maximum of 2000 TOPS, nearly 8 times that of the current product Orin.
At CES 2025 this year, NVIDIA announced that Thor has officially entered mass production, with computing power reaching 5000 TOPS. NVIDIA officially stated that this chip can easily handle the complex calculations required for L4/L5 level self-driving, as well as functions like in-car entertainment and smart cockpits.
Reports indicate that ZEEKR will be among the first auto manufacturers to experiment with the Thor chip, leveraging it to develop a driver assistance system for more precise vehicle and pedestrian recognition. It is said that this platform is independently developed and designed by the ZEEKR team, featuring 2x ultra-high computing power and low power consumption design. The first mass-produced native self-driving car, ZEEKR RT, will begin large-scale delivery in 2025.
$Toyota Motor (TM.US)$ The next-generation auto platform will also be built on the DRIVE AGX Orin platform to achieve higher levels of intelligent driving capabilities.
Self-driving technology companies $Aurora Innovation (AUR.US)$ Continental AG and NVIDIA announced a long-term strategic partnership, planning to deploy self-driving trucks on a large scale supported by NVIDIA DRIVE.
In addition to the above companies, $Li Auto (LI.US)$ 、 $BYD COMPANY (01211.HK)$ , Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, $XIAOMI-W (01810.HK)$ are also customers of NVIDIA Thor, it's worth noting that, $XPeng (XPEV.US)$ and $NIO Inc (NIO.US)$ However, it has disappeared from the previous list.
The product manager for XPeng Motors' P series and G series stated in an interview that due to the delay of the Thor chip, the XPeng P7+ opted for a configuration using dual Orin-X chips. Currently, the self-developed Turing chip by XPeng Motors successfully taped out in late August last year. XPeng Motors' founder and chairman, He Xiaopeng, claimed that this chip is designed for L4 Self-Driving Cars, with AI computing power equivalent to that of three mainstream intelligent driving chips; one can achieve L3 + high-level intelligent driving experience, while two can achieve L4 autonomous driving experience.
NIO's self-developed chip, Shenji NX9031, is built on a 5nm process, and it has been first launched in NIO's executive flagship sedan ET9, which will commence deliveries in March 2025.
Traditional automakers such as BYD and Dongfeng Automobile Group are also actively investing in or developing their own chips, covering various fields including body control chips, intelligent cockpit chips, and autonomous driving chips.
In an interview with the Star Daily reporter, Jiang Han, a senior researcher at Pangu Think Tank, stated: "If the supply of intelligent driving chips is tight, it will affect the research and development and production plans of Auto Manufacturers."
Intel is betting on automotive solutions.
At last year's CES, $Intel (INTC.US)$ Announcing entry into the vehicle chip field, focusing on three main directions: smart cockpit chips, electric vehicle energy AI management, and open automotive chip customization platform.
At this year's CES 2025, Intel launched a comprehensive technology platform that includes the Adaptive Control Unit ACU U310, B-series vehicle-mounted graphics cards, and based on this, introduced AI technology and AI large model Software, power management, and regional controller solutions.
Intel stated that in the application of electric vehicle power systems, the ACU U310 supports more advanced algorithm solutions that can automatically adjust voltage and control frequency based on individual driving styles and road conditions, reducing vehicle energy consumption, improving energy efficiency, and increasing energy recovery of the power transmission system.
Currently, Intel has reached a cooperation agreement with Stellantis, and its Maserati team’s new Gen3 Evo generation FE electric formula racing car will deploy Intel ACU chips to improve the car's performance and efficiency in competitive racing environments.
In addition, Intel also announced a collaboration with $Amazon (AMZN.US)$ its cloud computing platform AWS, to provide auto manufacturers with an efficient and flexible cloud platform for developing, simulating, and testing automotive systems and applications through AWS's virtual design environment.
Some investors believe that Intel's recent performance has significantly declined, falling into operational difficulties, and hope to accelerate the transition from a pure PC chip supplier to a provider of an integrated automotive hardware and software ecosystem to boost market sentiment. "Intel hopes to unveil a series of products and solutions at CES 2025 to demonstrate its determination to transform to global investors."
Among the domestic exhibitors, Nanfang Black Sesame Group showcased the Huashan A2000 chip series and the Wudang C1200 chip series at CES 2025. The former supports advanced intelligent driving scenarios and can also be applied in various fields such as embodied intelligence and general computing; the latter focuses on multi-domain integration and cross-domain computing, with a single chip capable of covering the needs of different domains inside smart automobiles such as the cockpit and intelligent driving.
Bo Wenxi, Vice Chairman of the Capital Alliance of Chinese Enterprises, believes that on one hand, as autonomous driving technology continues to mature and become more widespread, the demand for intelligent driving will increase; on the other hand, with continuous progress and innovation in chip technology, more chip companies will also have the capability and conditions to enter this field.
Editor/Rocky