Dongfeng Motor Corporation in the Wuhan Economic & Technological Development Zone (WEDZ) has made a significant leap towards technological independence by completing the tape-out of three automotive-grade chips, addressing a critical gap in the domestic market.
One high-end MCU chip and H-bridge driver chip have reached their second tape-out, while a high-side driver chip has already entered mass production and is being integrated into vehicles.
Zhang Fanwu, chief intelligent officer at Dongfeng Motor's R&D Institute, highlighted the crucial role of domestic chip substitution, especially for MCUs and specialized chips. He noted that a single vehicle typically contains 25 to 50 controllers, incorporating around 500 to 1,000 chips. Many high-end MCUs and specialized chips, such as intelligent power devices and power management chips, are essential to core automotive functions and have long been dominated by foreign manufacturers.
Dongfeng Motor began its initiative for domestic chip production in 2019, planning a high-end MCU chip and four specialized chips to ensure long-term supply chain stability and security. In 2022, Dongfeng led the creation of the Hubei Automotive Grade Chip Industry Technology Innovation Consortium, partnering with eight enterprises and institutions.
According to Zhang, the consortium has established a comprehensive chip industrial chain, covering demand definition, design, manufacturing, and testing. In August, the consortium's high-end MCU chip achieved its second tape-out, with software development for controllers underway. It is expected to be integrated into vehicles next year, potentially becoming China's first fully domestically produced MCU chip to enter mass production.
Zhang emphasized that true chip localization involves forward-looking development, where both hardware and software are fully domestically produced, with all functions precisely tailored to meet the needs of domestic vehicles, rather than simple reverse substitution.
In September, Dongfeng Motor announced plans to accelerate the application of domestically produced high-performance chips. By 2026, the company aims to widely adopt 7-nanometer process chips, advance to 5-nanometer chips by 2030, and develop even more advanced architectures by 2035.
These advancements will be deeply integrated with AI algorithms, offering lower power consumption and higher computing power, thus making vehicles smarter and more attuned to users' needs.
