Chip Wars: Should NIO Compete with NVIDIA?

In this episode of the Courtside Financial Podcast, we dive deep into the heated debate: Can NIO’s new Shenji NX9031 chip truly compete with NVIDIA’s revolutionary DRIVE Thor platform? My guest Marty shared his views on NIO’s foray into the chip industry, but I’ve got my own take on whether this bold move by NIO is wise or risky.

We’ll explore the potential of NIO’s 5nm autonomous driving chip, compare it with NVIDIA’s AI-driven Blackwell architecture, and discuss the challenges NIO might face in competing with an industry giant like NVIDIA. With NVIDIA’s DRIVE Thor already being adopted by NIO’s competitors like BYD, XPENG, and Hyper, is NIO biting off more than it can chew?

Tune in to hear why I believe NIO should focus on its core competencies and whether this ambitious move might impact its financials. Remember, the opinions shared by guests don’t always reflect my own, and I’m here to give you my honest perspective.

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[mandoiaalbergueturisticoru]

The US government may limit access to NVIDIA chips. NIO wants to be independent, it does not want to compete with nvidia

[JoeShenanigans]

The question is can Nio trust the USA to not stop China from getting first rate quality chips. How did that trust work out for Huawei?

[nooneop]

Nio learn from Huawei that China has to depend on itself to avoid sanctions. Hence it needs to develop its own chips for existential reasons.

[JAwAD]

Who’s going to produce the NIO chips TSMC? That’s who Nvidia uses. The Chinese EV manufactures like dongfeng and Changan and others may be more likely to use NIO Shenji chip over nvidia.

[anvoong]

NIO decision on whether to continue to use Nvidia chip has a lot to do with it's strategy for autonomous driving. What NIO is doing seems to be different from the rest of the industry. Partnering with Nvidia for AD chip development meaning sharing technology secret with Nvidia which Nvidia will then use to make it's own chip which then sells to other automakers who will compete with NIO. Subsequently NIO will continue to depend on Nvidia for chips. If I know that I have an ultimate AD solution, I will develop my own chip.

[NIOFAN]

Along with the growing EV (electric vehicle) market, it is estimated that new EVs will have 3, 000 or more computer chips—at least double that of today's traditional vehicles. NIO doing the right move.

[bisayangdakodeay]

China market alone can make NIO’s chips successful

[chaukeram]

Great video as always, Obi.
My opinion…I don’t think NIO’s primary goal is to compete with Nvidia. I think the primary goal for NIO is to cut costs (more vertically integrate as well as to protect itself against possible future US chip bans).
As far as I know, there are four ORIN chips per NIO vehicle) not to mention in each of their swap stations (and potentially the mass market ONVO brand, which most likely be able to do self driving). So the need/demand is definitely there.

NIO is one of NVIDIAs top customers for its ORIN chips which are pretty expensive, so if they are able to manufacture their own chips and hence save money I’m all for it.

[maxquest]

Too much too fast. Unlikely to seriously compete with Nvidia. However if they can make their own chip to use rather than use Nvidia it could save on cost. Nio is expanding extremely fast, is a phone needed at this time? Is european expansion necessary especially when your facing tariffs? How many of their endeavors are losing them money, not to mention opportunity cost?

[briancase]

Uh, pretty much anybody who can pay to hire the engineers can build an Xnm "AI" chip. It's just computation. But, can they train the AI that will be run on their autonomous AI chip? That's a VERY VERY different question and one that must be answered "yes" to have a reason to build their own AI chip.