Chinese electric vehicle (EV) maker Xpeng is in discussions with Volkswagen and other automakers to supply its newly developed Turing AI chip, as it seeks long-term partners for its smart driving technology, the company said on Thursday.
Xpeng chairman and CEO He Xiaopeng told the Financial Times that the company is working to integrate its Turing AI chip into Volkswagen-branded vehicles slated for release in China next year. “We are looking for long-term partners,” He said, noting that chip development is a strategic, long-term commitment aligned with Xpeng’s broader ambitions in cars, aircraft, and robotics.
Following the remarks, Xpeng confirmed that discussions with Volkswagen and other companies were ongoing. A Volkswagen spokesperson in China said the German automaker and Xpeng are co-developing two mid-range EVs set for launch next year, with both parties contributing their strengths.
Xpeng debuted its G7 SUV this week, which features the Turing chip and marks the first vehicle to carry the company’s proprietary AI hardware. The Ultra variant of the G7 is equipped with three Turing chips, delivering more than 2,200 TOPS (trillions of operations per second) of computing power—sufficient to support L3 autonomous driving, the company said.
Xpeng claims the Turing chip offers AI performance 26 times greater than industry flagship models, powering both autonomous driving and in-cabin experiences with enhanced speed and responsiveness.
Rival EV maker Nio (NYSE: NIO) has also developed an in-house smart driving chip, the Shenji NX9031, which the company says matches the computing power of four Nvidia Orin X chips and is used in five of its current models.
