Chinese semiconductor maker GigaDevice said it has signed a strategic cooperation agreement with automaker Chery Automobile to deepen collaboration across the automotive chip value chain, as both companies seek to support the development of next-generation intelligent vehicles.
The agreement, announced on Jan. 12, establishes a long-term partnership focused on closer coordination from chip definition to vehicle-level validation. GigaDevice said the cooperation aims to jointly develop advanced intelligent vehicle system solutions suited to the AI era, strengthening the technological foundation of China’s push toward smarter, more software-driven automobiles.
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GigaDevice is a fabless semiconductor supplier with an established footprint in automotive-grade chips, including memory products and microcontroller units (MCUs). The company said cumulative shipments of its automotive-grade Flash products have exceeded 300 million units, with applications covering areas such as intelligent cockpits and driver-assistance systems. Its GD32A7 high-performance automotive MCU series has entered mass production and secured multiple vehicle design wins, while total shipments of GD32A automotive MCUs have surpassed 8 million units.
Under the partnership, GigaDevice will draw on its expertise in memory, MCUs and related chips, along with its manufacturing scale, to provide Chery with high-performance and highly reliable automotive-grade semiconductor solutions. The companies said the cooperation would align chip development more closely with emerging electronic and electrical vehicle architectures.
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Chery will contribute its experience in vehicle platform development, system integration and market insight. The automaker will provide input on top-level chip design, functional definition and performance optimisation, as well as full-vehicle validation to ensure semiconductor solutions meet real-world automotive requirements.
The initial focus of the collaboration will be on key intelligent vehicle domains, including smart cockpits and autonomous driving. The two companies said they aim to build an end-to-end collaboration model spanning chip definition, joint development, automotive-grade validation and large-scale production, with the goal of shortening the path from innovation to commercialisation.
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GigaDevice said the agreement represents a step toward a deeper “chip–vehicle collaboration” model, as automakers and chipmakers seek closer integration to keep pace with the rapid evolution of intelligent and software-defined vehicles.