Domestic chips have achieved significant breakthroughs.

On November 10th, the official WeChat account of Wuhan Economic Development Zone announced that the Hubei Province Automotive Grade Chip Industry Technology Innovation Alliance, led by Dongfeng Motor, has released the high-performance automotive grade MCU chip - DF30, filling the domestic gap. It is reported that this is a domestically produced automotive grade intelligent high edge drive chip that covers the entire process from design to manufacturing. It has been officially mass-produced and installed in Dongfeng Motor's new energy vehicle models.

It is reported that automotive grade chips usually refer to integrated circuits, discrete components, 

sensors, and optoelectronic components and modules used in automobiles. From the perspective of 

the segmented market of automotive chips, the ones with great growth potential include automotive 

MCU chips, SoC chips, storage chips, etc.

Among them, the automotive MCU chip is the core component of automotive information processing 

and is widely used in various automotive systems. According to the Gaishi Automotive Research 

Institute, the global high-end market for automotive MCUs is still dominated by foreign manufacturers,

 with the top 5 manufacturers accounting for approximately 90% of the market share in 2023. 

Domestic automotive MCU chip companies are rapidly growing and entering the mid to high end 

application fields such as intelligent driving, chassis, and power.

Chip News

According to the announcement from Wuhan Economic Development Zone, on November 9th, 

the 2024 Annual Conference of Hubei Province Automotive Grade Chip Industry Technology 

Innovation Alliance was held in Wuhan Economic Development Zone. At the meeting, the Hubei 

Province Automotive Grade Chip Industry Technology Innovation Alliance, led by Dongfeng Motor, 

released the high-performance automotive grade MCU chip - DF30, filling the domestic gap.

Guests including Ye Tianchun, Secretary General of the China Integrated Circuit Innovation Alliance, 

and relevant officials from the Hubei Provincial Department of Science and Technology and Wuhan 

Economic Development Zone attended the conference, witnessing the release of the DF30 chip and 

its AUTOSAR compliant OS (operating system) and MCAL (microcontroller abstraction layer).

It is reported that the DF30 chip is the industry's first high-end automotive MCU chip based on the 

independently open-source RISC-V multi-core architecture, developed using domestic 40nm 

automotive standard technology, with a closed-loop process in China and a functional safety level 

of ASIL-D. It has passed 295 strict tests. The DF30 chip is compatible with the domestically produced 

AutoSAR automotive software operating system and can be widely used in fields such as power 

control, vehicle chassis, electronic information, and driving assistance, filling the domestic gap 

in this field.

According to the official WeChat account of Dongfeng Motor R&D Institute, the conference issued 

the Dongfeng High Edge Drive Chip Vehicle Specification Certification Certificate. It is reported that 

this is a domestically produced automotive grade intelligent high edge drive chip that covers the 

entire process from design to manufacturing. It is widely used in 12V grounded load applications in 

automobiles and is equipped with two independent output channels. It provides various intelligent 

protection and diagnostic functions such as overvoltage protection, overcurrent protection, and over 

temperature protection. Currently, it has been officially mass-produced and installed in Dongfeng 

Motor's new energy vehicle models.

Automotive chips are one of the core components driving the high-quality development of the 

automotive industry. In May 2022, Dongfeng Motor Corporation led a joint venture with 8 enterprises,

 institutions, and universities to establish the Hubei Province Automotive Grade Chip Industry 

Technology Innovation Alliance, committed to achieving complete independent definition, design, 

manufacturing, packaging, testing, and controller development and application of automotive grade 

chips, accelerating innovation breakthroughs.

Since its establishment, the Innovation Alliance has received widespread attention from the industry, 

and its member units have expanded to 44, covering the entire industry chain including automotive 

chip standards, design, manufacturing, packaging, and applications.

At present, the innovation consortium has produced more than 50 invention patents and led the 

drafting of 6 national and industry standards for automotive grade chips. The collaborative innovation 

achievements of the consortium units have won the gold medal in the Hubei Province High Value 

Patent Competition; The high edge drive chip developed by the innovation consortium has been 

officially mass-produced and installed in Dongfeng Motor's new energy vehicle models.

In the future, the innovation consortium will continue to be based in Hubei, focusing on the automotive 

grade chip industry chain, further attracting and accepting global advantageous units, and creating a 

comprehensive automotive chip industry technology consortium that gathers "government industry 

academia research application capital innovation".

Automotive chip race erupts

Vehicle grade chips typically refer to integrated circuits, discrete components, sensors, and optoelectronic 

components and modules used in automobiles. From the perspective of the segmented market of automotive 

chips, the ones with great growth potential include automotive MCU chips, SoC chips, storage chips, 

communication chips, analog chips, etc.

Among them, the automotive MCU chip is the core component of automotive information processing 

and is widely used in various automotive systems. According to the Gaishi Automotive Research 

Institute, the global high-end market for automotive MCUs is still dominated by foreign manufacturers, 

with the top 5 manufacturers accounting for approximately 90% of the market share in 2023.

At present, international giants such as Infineon, STMicroelectronics, and NXP are promoting the 

upgrading of automotive grade MCUs towards more advanced processes, higher computing power, 

and higher integration to meet the market demand for high-performance MCU chips across different 

domains in the future. Domestic automotive MCU chip companies are also growing rapidly and 

entering the mid to high end application fields such as intelligent driving, chassis, and power.