Li Auto's In-House Developed Mach M100 Chip Enters Mass Production for Vehicle Integration

[Technical Breakthrough] Li Auto CTO Xie Yan revealed progress on the company's self-developed Mach M100 chip, which will enter mass production alongside the L9 Livis in June 2026.

Core Development: Mach M100 Delivers 3x Effective Compute Power of NVIDIA Thor U

With 1,280 TOPS of effective compute per chip and a dataflow architecture, a dual-chip configuration in the new L9 achieves 5–6x the real-world performance of Thor U. Xie Yan emphasized that the business objective will only be considered met once the L9’s intelligent driving capabilities reach "industry-leading" status and achieve top-tier sales.

Strategic Foundation: Following Apple’s Integrated Hardware-Software Approach

Inspired by Alan Kay’s philosophy that “if you’re serious about software, you should build your own hardware,” Li Auto initiated its chip project in 2022, investing billions of RMB to date. Xie Yan, who joined in July 2022, has led R&D efforts aimed at vertically integrating hardware and software to fully control the intelligent driving experience.

Key Metrics: Lower Cost but Only 60% of Targets Achieved

Although the per-unit cost of the Mach M100 is lower than off-the-shelf alternatives, the project had only achieved 60% of its business objectives as of the Beijing Auto Show, with commercial validation remaining a critical challenge.