[Text/Observation Network Zhang Jiadong Editor/Gao Shen]
At the Munich Shanghai Electronics Show held on April 15, AutoChips, a subsidiary of NavInfo, officially released the automotive-grade multi-core MCU chip AC7870.
Bi Lei, senior vice president of NavInfo and general manager of AutoChips, stated: "The automotive-grade MCU chip AC7870 is the latest achievement of AutoChips' comprehensive intelligent layout."
General Manager of AutoChips Bi Lei. All images in this article are from AutoChips' official website.
The "White Paper on the Commercial Development of Chinese Intelligent Driving" released at the 2025 China Electric Vehicle Hundred People Forum shows that driven by the trends of vehicle intelligence and electrification, the demand for automotive chips continues to grow, among which the demand for MCU chips is expected to reach 1.469 billion units next year.
At the user conference last October, NavInfo stated that it would fully explore the business of supplying commercial car-use MCU chips.
At that time, the company's CEO Cheng Peng said that automakers currently have three models in autonomous driving development: "full self-research, full-stack controllable, and full outsourcing." He believed that automakers should create differentiation through self-research in high-level autonomous driving, while achieving maximum efficiency through cooperation with suppliers in mid-to-low-level areas. NavInfo expects to help automakers achieve full-stack controllability in this process.
Bi Lei stated at this electronic exhibition that AutoChips aims to provide comprehensive solutions with high cost-performance and high stability for various scenarios such as intelligence, networking, and electrification. "The group's CEO proposed to do extreme cost-performance two or three years ago. AutoChips does not pursue absolute extreme experience during this process but focuses more on cost-performance and market compatibility."
Regarding market differentiation, Bi Lei said, "Automobiles are products with very high safety requirements, so first of all, quality and safety must be emphasized." "AutoChips' chip products are more focused on building information security and stability." he added.
It is understood that the AC7870 chip released this time supports the ISO 26262 ASIL-D functional safety standard, has an integrated HSM module, and can meet high-level domestic and international information security standards.
In terms of software ecosystems, the chip is compatible with mainstream AUTOSAR and provides functional safety-compliant MCAL. Additionally, AC7870 has large-sized Flash storage and abundant peripheral interface resources, suitable for high-level functional safety scenarios under new electronic/electrical architectures, including domain control, regional control, powertrain chassis, and more.
To date, AutoChips has built an MCU product matrix including AC784, AC780, and AC7870.
Regarding the recent Sino-US trade conflicts caused by high US tariffs, Bi Lei told the Observation Network that tariffs have little impact on sales both domestically and internationally. "As a company, we will not make fundamental changes to our strategic direction due to 'black swan' events. Instead, we can spur ourselves on to do what we should do."
Bi Lei also mentioned that in the semiconductor industry, the localization of chips began much earlier than the tariff adjustments. Tariffs will only promote the use of domestic chips in vehicles. "For example, AutoChips initially did localization in packaging and testing. Later, packaging, wafers, and other steps were done in collaboration with domestic enterprises. On one hand, we have already done what we need to do, and we continue to see chips as a promising field. Tariffs will only accelerate customers' decisions to choose domestic chips."
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Original source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7494203098107036197/
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