GWM makes inroads into chip industry

Great Wall Motors said on Wednesday that it has become a shareholder of Chinese semiconductor maker Synlight Crystal, which is the latest move of the carmaker in the chip industry.

The carmaker said it led a financing round of the chip supplier headquartered in North China's Hebei province, but did not disclose the specific amount of its investment and its share.

Founded in 2012, Synlight Crystal is a leading company in China's third-generation semiconductor field, dedicated to the research and development, manufacturing, and sales of silicon carbide substrate products.

Great Wall Motors said it will help to accelerate the chipmaker's business development in electric vehicles, thus facilitating the commercialization of silicon carbide material and chips.

Earlier this year, the carmaker said it aims to scale up its annual sales to 4 million vehicles in 2025, with 80 percent of them being electric cars, plug-in hybrids and fuel cell vehicles.

To realize the 2025 target, it has announced a massive investment plan of 100 billion yuan ($15.49 billion) in key technologies in five years, including the third-generation semiconductor, said the carmaker.

Notably, silicon carbide products have already been used in the automaker's young high-end electric car marque, Shalong. It said it will use such products in future models as well.

Besides Synlight Crystal, Great Wall Motors has partnered with chip producer Horizon Robotics to improve its competitiveness in autonomous driving and smart onboard functions.

Statistics show that over 45 percent of Great Wall Motors' models have Level 2 autonomous driving functions. It is working on Level 3 functions as well.

Established in 2015, Horizon is the first Chinese maker of AI chips for vehicles' autonomous driving and smart onboard functions.

lifusheng@chinadaily.com.cn