AI titan Nvidia ramped up the collaboration with Chinese auto giants

Nvidia announced a major expansion of its collaboration with world-leading BYD and other Chinese electric car makers

The advancement strengthens Nvidia's ties with the Chinese electric vehicle (EV) sector, even as it faces separate restrictions from the United States on exporting its most potent AI hardware to China. BYD, which surpassed Tesla in sales during the final quarter of 2023, becomes the latest Chinese automaker to integrate Nvidia's DRIVE Thor, an integrated vehicle control system enhanced with robust generative AI capabilities. Nvidia's CEO, Jensen Huang, announced the adoption of the next-generation AV computer by BYD, labeling it "the world's largest EV company" during a developers conference.

Nvidia disclosed that other prominent Chinese EV manufacturers such as XPeng, Li Auto, ZEEKR, and GAC Aion have also embraced the Thor platform, initially introduced in 2022. Thor is slated for deployment in production vehicles as early as 2025, according to Nvidia. Despite its soaring value attributed to the AI boom propelled by the achievements of OpenAI's ChatGPT, Nvidia is restricted from supplying its most powerful chips to Chinese entities under US regulations. These restrictions, as asserted by Washington, aim to hinder China's military and security agencies from accessing technology that could contribute to the development of advanced military equipment and AI applications. According to Bloomberg News, citing anonymous sources, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has discreetly urged auto companies like BYD to increase their procurement from domestic chipmakers to reduce reliance on foreign suppliers.