BAIC and Imagination jointly set up a chip company, focusing on smart cockpit voice interaction chips

At this critical period of technological upgrading in the global automotive industry, which is electrification, intelligence, and networking, the coordination of chip technology and vehicle product development is related to the future competitiveness of automobile companies. However, the chip research and development foundation of automobile companies is still weak, and core technologies still rely on chip companies, which may become the biggest weakness of vehicle companies. For domestic and foreign chip manufacturers, the huge market space spawned by the rapid development of intelligent networking in China's automotive industry has also become a battleground for all parties. The cooperation between BAIC and Imagination has opened up a new paradigm for cross-border cooperation between vehicle companies and international chip giants, and is expected to create a highland for automotive-grade chips and accelerate the progress of automotive chips.

The joint venture will focus on the research and development of application processors for autonomous driving and voice interaction chips for smart cockpits. By leveraging Imagination's IP platform advantages, BAIC Group's vehicle manufacturing ecosystem advantages, and the management team's rich industry experience, it will open up the entire industry chain from IP to chips to vehicles, and will strive to become an "innovation guide" in the global intelligent connected vehicle chip field.

Based on Imagination’s fundamental advantages in neural network acceleration (NNA), the joint venture will develop “storage-computing-in-one” SoC chips with independent core patents to further improve the application of the existing chip product matrix in the field of in-vehicle voice interaction. In addition, based on Imagination’s performance advantages in GPU and image processing, as well as the current development trend of visual and structured light fusion perception, the joint venture will continue to promote the development of ADAS and intelligent driving perception chips.

At present, autonomous intelligent driving and intelligent cockpit chips with independent IP are still scarce. Breakthroughs in related fields are of great significance to the development of the domestic smart car industry and have broad market space.

This strategic cooperation is an important measure for BAIC to work with Imagination to create intelligent connected vehicle-grade chips and promote the intelligent development of the global automotive industry.

As one of the top five automobile groups in China, BAIC Group has always adhered to the development mode of forward-looking planning and strategic leadership. It foresaw the trend, took the lead in layout, and was the first in the industry to enter the new energy industry. In 2018, it proposed the "dual-wheel drive" strategy of new energy and intelligent networking. In the same year, it released the "Dolphin+" strategy for intelligent networking, and made every effort to promote the development of intelligent networked vehicles. BAIC Capital Investment is a wholly-owned subsidiary of BAIC Group and a core platform for capital operation, equity investment, and innovation incubation. In recent years, it has fully assisted the implementation and development of BAIC Group's "dual-wheel drive" strategy through the investment of more than 100 high-quality projects. BAIC Group established an equity relationship through the investment of BAIC Capital Investment, fully activated BAIC's industrial resources, and made full use of its empowerment incubation platform to inject strong R&D and industrial chain resource advantages into the joint venture.

Imagination is a world-renowned chip IP supplier and one of the few manufacturers in the industry that can provide IP licenses for graphics processors (GPUs), artificial intelligence, and communication technologies. Its GPU IP products account for more than 30% of the global mobile smart terminal market, and its products have been fully verified by companies such as Apple, Renesas, and TI.

The management team of the newly established joint venture has more than 15 years of experience in chip R&D and organizational management in international first-tier companies, and has strong experience in product definition, R&D, and sales, as well as strong product delivery capabilities. The intelligent cockpit chip based on voice interaction and the L3-L5 multi-level environmental perception solution are expected to be successfully taped out and mass-produced in 2021 and 2022, respectively.

Based on BAIC Group's leading automotive manufacturing industry ecosystem advantages and Imagination's world-leading IP research and development capabilities, the two parties will work together to create a new frontier for automotive-grade chips.