By Kate Yuan

(JW Insights) May 9 -- Chinese EV maker Li Auto set up a new company, Jiangsu Changxiang Power Technology (常想动力), with a registered capital of RRMB200 million ($28.92 million), focusing on self-developed chips, showed Tianyancha, a provider of Chinese corporation data and due diligence platform.

The company is located in Changzhou of eastern China’s Jiangsu Province and is wholly owned by Chehejia Automobile (车和家), an affiliate of Li Auto.

Li Auto had made many efforts in self-developed chips. In 2022, it established a company in southwestern China’s, which is wholly owned by Leading Ideal HK Limited, a Li Auto affiliate.

On March 23 this year, Chehejia and Hunan Sanan Semiconductor jointly found a semiconductor company with a registered capital of RMB300 million ($43.38 million), targeting SiC power devices. Li's SiC power devices are expected to start sample production in May this year, and gradually produce up to 2.4 million half-bridge devices annually in 2024.

Many Chinese auto companies have started developing automotive chips including Xpeng, NIO, and Geely, but have chosen different directions.

If Li Auto can successfully develop own SiC power devices, it will be a big step forward in China’s SiC field, said the JW Insights report.