GeniTech (Shenji), a unit of Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer Nio, has entered into binding agreements for a 2.25bn yuan $323m investment from a group of local investors.
Shenji handles the company’s intelligent-driving chip programme
Nio’s English-language release did not name the investors.
Chinese media reports, however, have cited Hefei State-Owned Capital Enterprise Investment, Hefei Haiheng, IDG Capital, China Fortune-Tech Capital and Yuanhe Puhua among those involved.
In a statement, the automaker said that once the deal is completed, a Nio subsidiary will continue to hold a controlling 62.7% stake in Shenji and Nio will keep consolidating Shenji’s results in its financial statements.
The investor group will own 27.3% in total, while entities that hold shares for Shenji’s employee incentive scheme will account for the remaining 10%.
Closing is still subject to customary conditions.
Shenji was formed after Nio carved out its chip business in June last year.
The unit later partnered with Axera Semiconductor and OmniVision Integrated Circuits Group in November to set up a joint venture with registered capital of CNY100 million (USD14.6 million).
According to Yicai Global, the fundraising is expected to support Shenji’s efforts to develop and commercialise more advanced chips, in line with Nio’s longer-term focus on autonomous driving and embodied intelligence.
Nio has previously stated that Shenji was the first company in China to develop five-nanometre automotive-grade chips and deploy them at scale.
In 2024, it released the Shenji NX9031, which has been deployed in more than 150,000 vehicles across models such as the ET9, ES6, ES8 and EC6.
Following the latest financing, Shenji plans to roll out ultra-high-performance chips aimed at the next generation of smart driving, alongside other chips designed for additional sectors, reported CnEVPost.
The unit’s initial demand has largely come from Nio, and it is also seeking growth in areas including embodied robotics and agent reasoning, with the goal of offering wider chip and smart hardware solutions.
Separately, Nio said earlier this month that based on a preliminary review it expects adjusted operating profit (non-GAAP) of around 700m yuan to 1.2bn yuan for the fourth quarter of 2025.
It said this would mark its first quarterly adjusted operating profit on a non-GAAP basis, compared with an adjusted operating loss of 5.54bn yuan in the fourth quarter of 2024.
On a GAAP basis, the company forecast operating profit of approximately 200m yuan to 700m yuan for the fourth quarter of 2025.
Nio is due to publish unaudited fourth-quarter and full-year 2025 results on Tuesday, 10 March 2026.
