China's intelligent driving market has experienced significant and rapid growth in recent years. While leading global chipmakers, Qualcomm and Nvidia, continue to dominate the global smart-driving chip sector, Chinese domestic automotive chips have made considerable progress, especially in the mid- and low-end segments. However, they remain competitive yet still fall short of challenging Qualcomm and Nvidia's dominance in the high-end intelligent driving chip market.
In 2023, China's intelligent driving market expanded to CNY238.1 billion (approx. US$32.62 billion), achieving an impressive year-over-year growth rate of 19.3%. Analysts project the market will exceed CNY280 billion by the end of 2024. However, this growth remains heavily dependent on imported chips, as the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology revealed that the self-sufficiency rate of domestic automotive chips is less than 10%.
The development of automotive-grade chips faces several challenges, including long development cycles, high technical barriers, and slim profit margins. These factors make it difficult for Chinese companies to heavily invest in R&D, as the production costs are substantial and interest remains limited. In contrast, China's intelligent driving technology is advancing at a rapid pace.
Recent data shows that 1.839 million intelligent driving systems were installed as standard in China's passenger vehicle pre-installation market in 2023, marking an annual growth rate of approximately 70%. The market penetration rate also increased to 8.7%. This upward trend indicates the rapid adoption and popularization of intelligent driving technology in China.
From a technical standpoint, imported chips continue to offer significant advantages. Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8295 and Nvidia's Orin X chips excel in both computing power and AI capabilities. For instance, the Orin X achieves up to 1,016 trillion operations per second (TOPS), vastly outperforming domestic Chinese chips. In 2022, Nvidia commanded 82.5% of global shipments of high-performance autonomous driving chips.
In the intelligent cockpit chip sector, Qualcomm has become nearly synonymous with the Chinese market, with its Snapdragon series widely adopted by major automotive brands. While other manufacturers, such as MediaTek, are making significant strides, Qualcomm's dominant market position remains difficult to challenge.
Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8155 and Snapdragon 8295 chips are widely integrated into vehicle models from leading brands, including Mercedes-Benz, Xpeng, Zeekr, Lynk & Co, Li Auto, and Nio.
MediaTek has also made notable strides in the intelligent cockpit chip market, with its Dimensity Auto Cockpit platform surpassing 20 million units in shipments. The company projects cumulative revenue to exceed US$3 billion by 2028.
Data from the Gasgoo Research Institute shows that in the first half of 2024, Qualcomm captured a commanding 64.4% market share. Other key players included AMD and Renesas, with market shares of 11.6% and 8.5%, respectively. Notably, Huawei boosted its market share from 0.6% in early 2023 to an expected 3.8% in 2024.
Nvidia's Drive Orin-X chip led the market with 1.147 million units installed, securing a 32.6% market share. Meanwhile, Qualcomm maintained its leadership in the intelligent cockpit chip market with nearly 60% of the market share.
While Chinese domestic chips, like Horizon Robotics' Journey series, have improved in computing power and processing capabilities, a substantial gap remains compared to leading international players. Although the Journey series has gained traction in the local market, it still lags behind Nvidia and Qualcomm in terms of computing power and overall performance.
In 2021, Horizon Robotics introduced its Journey 5 chip, designed for L3/L4 autonomous driving. By 2024, the Journey 6E/M will deliver its first mass-produced vehicle with front-mounted chips, with over 10 vehicle models expected to enter mass production by 2025.
Many Chinese automakers and chip manufacturers are strategically positioning themselves to seize opportunities in the expanding smart vehicle market. Huawei has emerged as a prominent player in the smart vehicle chip sector, commanding significant attention.
Huawei's Autonomous Driving System (ADS) has undergone several iterations, from ADS 1.0 to the upcoming ADS 3.0, with ongoing improvements in both performance and versatility. The high-end ADS 2.0 solution has already generated over CNY3 billion in sales, reflecting growing market acceptance and confidence in Huawei's autonomous driving technology.
As for intelligent cockpits, Huawei's Ascend series chips and HarmonyOS are also making inroads. The Ascend 610 chip has been applied in multiple vehicle models, while the HarmonyOS has further enhanced user interaction and overall system performance.
Note: Huawei's market share is expected to reach 3.8% in 2024.
Source: Gasgoo Research Institute, compiled by DIGITIMES, September 2024
Article translated by Levi Li
