# Smart-driving chips: the weapon of choice in China’s EV tech war > Source: > Published: 2026-06-16 11:00:05+00:00 Advertisement # Smart-driving chips: the weapon of choice in China’s EV tech war Carmakers strive for more control over computing hardware to reduce reliance on Nvidia and Horizon Robotics 2-MIN READ2-MIN Listen [Howard Liu](/author/howard-liu)in Beijing A new front has opened in China’s electric-vehicle tech war as carmakers design their own smart-driving chips, turning custom silicon into the industry’s weapon of choice in the world’s largest auto market. The latest salvo came on Monday after Li Auto unveiled the Mach M100, a 5-nanometre artificial-intelligence chip tailored for autonomous driving. Designed for the carmaker’s new L9 Livis SUV model, the chip displayed single-unit computing power of 1,280 trillion operations per second (TOPS) – a metric of how fast an AI brain can process incoming data, [Li Auto](https://sc.mp/tji7t?utm_source=copy-link&utm_campaign=3353963&utm_medium=share_widget)said. It achieved a highly efficient 82 per cent utilisation rate, the firm added.Advertisement The announcement followed a string of breakthroughs by its rivals. Weeks earlier, world-leading EV maker [BYD](https://sc.mp/kq173?utm_source=copy-link&utm_campaign=3356760&utm_medium=share_widget)debuted its Xuanji A3, a 4nm smart-driving chip now in mass production. Capable of supporting Level 3 and Level 4 autonomous-driving functions, a trio of Xuanji A3 chips working in tandem can deliver more than 2,100 TOPS of processing power, the company said.Advertisement Higher TOPS allow a vehicle’s computers to make split-second driving decisions by simultaneously crunching feeds from various sources such as radar and lidar sensors. Advertisement Select Voice Select Speed 1.00x