(Yicai Global) March 31 -- SiEngine Technology, an auto chip designer backed by Chinese car giant Geely Holding Group, said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company has started mass production of its first self-developed chips.

TSMC, the world’s largest chip foundry, will mass produce the Longying One chip, whose performance is similar to Qualcomm’s SA8155P, SiEngine’s Chief Executive Wang Kai said at a conference yesterday.

The Longying One is a seven-nanometer chip that can provide strong computational power to the smart cockpits of new energy vehicles, Wang noted, adding that vehicle models equipped with the Longying One are expected to be released around the middle of this year.

SiEngine’s major partners Geely Automobile Holdings and FAW Group will be the first to release cars equipped with the Longying One, Yicai Global learned.

Chinese carmakers have accelerated their investment in chip developers since the beginning of 2022. In February last year, China’s largest carmaker SAIC Motor said it would set up a special multi-billion Chinese yuan fund with Shanghai Industrial Technology Research Institute to bring auto chips to the market. Other leading car companies such as GAC Group and BYD are also investing in chipmakers.

Through these investments, automakers can guarantee their chip needs and customize the production of products that better meet their own needs, Wang told Yicai Global.

SiEngine was founded in Wuhan in 2018 by companies including EcarX Group, a Chinese maker of car infotainment systems for Geely, and chip technology firm Arm China. It unveiled the Longying One in December 2021.

Last year, SiEngine had three financing rounds, securing investment worth tens of millions of US dollars from FAW in March, bagged CNY1 billion (USD145.5 million) in a Series A round in May, and secured CNY500 million (USD72.8 million) in a Series A+ fundraiser in December.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Futura Costaglione