With the accelerated transformation of the vehicle architecture, China’s high-end automotive-grade MCU is ushering in a “new pattern.”
During the Shanghai International Auto Show held on April 23, Chipone Technology launched the X10 series chips for the new generation of AI cockpit, as well as high-end intelligent control MCU products targeting regional controllers, electric drive and power domain control, advanced driver assistance, and cockpit integration systems, including the E3 series.
Among these, as a new benchmark for autonomous high-end automotive-grade MCU, Chipone Technology’s flagship product E3650 has already secured core project designations from several leading domestic and international automotive companies.
At the same time, Chipone Technology also released a new member of the E3 family, the E3620P, specifically designed for electric drive and power system scenarios. Based on the serialized product combinations of E3118, E3610P, E3620P, and E3650, Chipone Technology can provide a one-stop power system MCU solution for single electric control, hybrid dual electric control, distributed electric drive, power multi-in-one domain control, and power + chassis integration domain control.
Currently, the “central computing + regional control” architecture is accelerating in popularity. Vehicles not only require a smart brain as the central computing unit but also need regional controllers (Zonal) and domain control (Domain) to connect and coordinate complex communication protocols and middleware, thus achieving true “vehicle intelligence.”
This also drives the automotive-grade MCU market into an “upgrade and reconstruction period.” Compared to traditional automotive-grade MCUs, high-performance MCUs used in domain control require higher computing power, stronger storage, richer peripheral interfaces, higher security requirements, and stronger virtualization capabilities…
Under this series of transformations, the automotive MCU market, long dominated by overseas giants such as NXP, Renesas, and Infineon, is beginning to undergo reconstruction, with Chinese manufacturers represented by Chipone Technology “rising strongly.”
01
Next-Generation EE Architecture: Comprehensive Upgrade of Automotive-Grade MCUs
“Although the central computing + regional architecture can simplify wiring harnesses, it places extremely high demands on the capabilities of the regional controllers themselves. For example, the types of functions that regional controllers need to integrate are rapidly increasing, and the requirements for real-time performance, functional safety levels, and computing power vary greatly across different domains, leading to an exponential increase in the technical complexity faced by regional controllers.” Chipone Technology’s MCU product line manager, Zhang Xitong, stated.
In her view, this not only raises higher requirements for the computing power, storage, communication performance, and peripheral resources of automotive-grade MCUs, but also requires automotive-grade MCUs to have very reliable isolation mechanisms, necessitating the use of virtualization (Hypervisor) and other technologies for implementation.
Therefore, Chipone Technology has launched high-performance automotive-grade MCU products represented by E3650 for the next-generation E/E architecture, achieving efficient cross-domain integration and control of systems such as body, chassis, and power.
Among them, the flagship intelligent control E3650 is a high-performance automotive-grade MCU launched by Chipone Technology for cross-domain integration scenarios, utilizing ARM R52+ lock-step multi-core technology, with a clock frequency of up to 600MHz, integrating 16MB of embedded non-volatile storage and over 4MB of large-capacity SRAM.
At the same time, E3650 also integrates rich GPIO (General Purpose Input/Output) interfaces, with over 350 available peripheral IOs, significantly saving on peripheral IO expansion chips and effectively reducing system costs.
In terms of communication, E3650 is specifically equipped with an SSDPE communication acceleration engine, which can efficiently handle communication tasks in domain control scenarios, achieving zero packet loss and low latency, thereby reducing CPU load. While achieving a significant leap in performance, E3650 has a size of only 19x19mm, effectively assisting controllers in achieving extreme miniaturization.
“As the integration of functions in regional controllers becomes increasingly complex and numerous, automotive-grade MCUs will move towards high-performance multi-core architectures, and the demand for real-time virtualization (Real Time Hypervisor) will also become more intense.” Zhang Xitong stated that real-time virtualization on high-performance MCUs will be an important development trend in future high-integration regional controller scenarios.
It is understood that Chipone’s E3650 is specifically designed to address the complexity of cross-domain integration scenarios, featuring high real-time performance, high safety levels, and lower resource overhead for MCU virtualization solutions, enabling efficient business isolation and code integration on domain control.
In terms of security, E3650 integrates a high-performance information security module, supporting national cryptographic algorithms, meeting global high standards such as ISO 21434, and is also the first domestic automotive-grade MCU to support post-quantum cryptography (PQC) algorithms, providing top-level protection against quantum attacks.
Additionally, E3650 is fully compatible with mainstream AUTOSAR and customized OS from automotive manufacturers, as well as mainstream toolchains such as IAR, Greenhills, and UDE, and provides firmware that meets international advanced standards.
As the electric drive systems and power systems of new energy passenger vehicles move towards high voltage, high integration, high speed, high safety, multi-power, and intelligence, the demand for main control MCUs is also rising. At this Shanghai Auto Show, Chipone Technology also launched a new member of the E3 family, the E3620P, designed for electric drive and power domain control scenarios, utilizing a 6-core R52+ cluster with a clock frequency of up to 500MHz, over 2MB of SRAM, and integrating the latest GTM 4.1, high-precision Sigma-Delta ADC, and other rich electric drive-specific peripherals, while also equipped with hardware rotary decoder, mathematical algorithm accelerator, and digital filter modules for power applications.
Looking towards the future of the E/E architecture, the E3620P also proactively incorporates CAN XL and 10Base T1S Ethernet, and supports high real-time MCU Hypervisor virtualization technology. In terms of security, E3620P meets ASIL-D level functional safety and AEC-Q100 Grade 1 reliability standards, supports national cryptographic hardware acceleration, and exceeds information security standards such as Evita Full, easily meeting the highest levels of information security requirements for both domestic and overseas markets.
Zhang Xitong introduced that the serialized products from E3118, E3610P, E3620P to E3650 can meet the requirements for high computing power, high real-time performance, and high precision control in scenarios such as single electric control, hybrid dual electric control, distributed electric drive, power multi-in-one domain control, and power + chassis integration domain control, covering from high-end to low-end, allowing flexible combinations to match the selection needs of different OEM platforms.
Through deep alignment with application scenarios, the release of E3620P has already secured designations from several leading domestic and international automotive companies and Tier 1 suppliers, becoming a highly sought-after and focused power domain MCU product.
Zhang Xitong stated that in the future, Chipone Technology will also launch a central intelligent control brain for the entire vehicle—E3800, integrating A-core, NPU, and other multi-core heterogeneous architectures to assist in the efficient upgrade of the entire vehicle’s E/E architecture.
02
All-Scenario “Vehicle Chip” Strongly Rising
Currently, in the architecture of central computing – regional controllers, two mainstream solutions have emerged in the industry: one is based on high-performance SoC (NVIDIA Thor or Qualcomm SA8295) + 3-4 regional controllers to achieve the central computing + regional control architecture; the other uses a single ultra-high-performance chip to achieve “cockpit and driving integration” + 2-3 regional controllers.
In this context, the central computing platform undertakes the important responsibility of processing advanced tasks such as intelligent assisted driving, cockpit interaction, and vehicle networking, requiring chips to possess multi-modal processing capabilities, high-bandwidth communication capabilities, and compatibility with mainstream operating systems; while regional controllers mainly focus on localized control and function integration, with their chips more focused on I/O resources, safety, and real-time performance.
It can be seen that regardless of the path taken, regional controllers (ZCU) will play an increasingly important role and will undertake more complex algorithms and control tasks.
Chipone Technology can provide I/O type, control type, and computing type regional controllers (Zonal) covering the new generation E/E architecture, meeting the regional and domain control needs of different forms of OEM E/E architectures. Currently, the Chipone E3 series has already been mass-produced in mainstream models including Li Auto L series and Li Auto M EGA, with shipments reaching millions.
On April 27, Li Auto’s self-developed automotive operating system “Li Auto Star Ring OS” was officially open-sourced, and Chipone Technology’s E3 series became the first domestic automotive-grade MCU partner. It is understood that Li Auto Star Ring OS can complete chip adaptation and verification within four weeks and fully supports the automotive chip architectures on the market.
Additionally, it is worth noting that Chipone Technology has released the latest generation of AI cockpit chip X10, utilizing advanced 4nm process technology and an ARMv9.2 CPU architecture optimized for AI computing, with CPU performance reaching 200K DMIPS, while also integrating an 1800 GFLOPS GPU and 40 TOPS NPU, and configured with a high bandwidth of up to 128-bit LPDDR5X memory interface, and 154 GB/s, effectively supporting the deployment of large AI models.
Unlike other chip manufacturers, Chipone Technology is a leader in all-scenario intelligent vehicle chips, consistently adhering to a scene-driven product layout. As a result, Chipone Technology’s E3 series automotive-grade MCU chips have achieved multiple “firsts” in the domestic market: for example, the E3 series has become the first domestic automotive-grade MCU applied in active suspension, and also the first to be mass-produced in regional controllers, breaking the international monopoly in high-end automotive-grade MCUs.
Currently, Chipone’s entire product series has accumulated shipments exceeding 8 million units, covering over 100 mainstream models. According to data from the High-Tech Automotive Research Institute, the penetration rate of intelligent cockpits in new energy passenger vehicles in the Chinese market is expected to reach 73.4%, with domestic chip solutions rising to 7.4%. Among them, Chipone Technology’s market share has reached 3.57%, making it the leading smart cockpit chip manufacturer with the highest market share and the most equipped models in the domestic market.
At this stage, the intelligent connected vehicle industry in China has achieved significant development achievements and has entered a new era of globalization. It can be seen that with the continuous strengthening of Chinese brand strength and the acceleration of the “going global” of Chinese automobiles, domestic chips represented by Chipone Technology are rapidly rising.
