NIO’s chip subsidiary, Shenji, exhibits independently at WAIC for the first time, targeting AI markets beyond automobiles.
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NIO’s chip business is beginning to move beyond automobiles.
On July 17, at the 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC), NIO’s chip subsidiary Anhui Shenji Technology Co., Ltd. ("Shenji") participated in the exhibition for the first time as an independent company.
In addition to showcasing the NX9031X chip already used in mass-produced NIO and Ledo brand vehicles, Shenji also released the "Ruidong" embodied intelligence development platform and the distributed agent platform, extending its product offerings to embodied intelligence and agent reasoning fields.
This change means Shenji is shifting from a chip company primarily serving NIO’s smart driving business to an independent supplier targeting a broader AI market.
Shenji was established in June 2025 and has completed nearly 3 billion RMB in financing, forming a product portfolio including NX9031X, NX9031U, and NX9031C, which cover intelligent assisted driving, embodied intelligence, and agent reasoning, respectively.
Among these, the high-end NX9031X chip is mainly designed for intelligent assisted driving and has been deployed in all NIO and Ledo brand vehicles, with cumulative shipments exceeding 300,000 units. Large-scale mass production in the automotive business has also become the foundation for Shenji’s external expansion.
The newly released "Ruidong" embodied intelligence development platform is equipped with the mid-range NX9031U chip, adopting a 5nm automotive-grade process, capable of running large models required for robot perception, autonomous planning, and other functions, providing a computing platform for robots.
This time, Shenji aims to leverage its experience in intelligent assisted driving as a differentiated advantage, entering AI application markets such as high-end robots, unmanned logistics vehicles, and large computing power terminals.
Although the application scenarios of intelligent driving and embodied intelligence are different, both require processing of environmental perception, real-time decision-making, and motion control, and have similar requirements for chip computing power, power consumption, and reliability. This also allows the automotive chip expertise to be transferred to some extent.
The distributed agent platform addresses agent reasoning scenarios. Shenji aims to provide underlying computing power support for agent applications on different terminals through a unified chip platform and software ecosystem.
In recent years, more and more automakers have increased their investment in chip self-development, but most related products still revolve around their own whole-vehicle businesses.
The signal Shenji’s independent participation in WAIC sends is that NIO hopes to further push its self-developed mass-production-verified chips to the external market, seeking new customers and business opportunities for its chip business.
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