[Hot spot] Investment first, deep focus, deepening cooperation, Xiaomi building an ecosystem of smart car industry chain in an all-round way.

Major listed companies in the industry:BYD (002594); Changan Automobile (000625); Great Wall Motor (601633); SAIC (600104), etc.

Core data of this article:Xiaomi automobile industry chain ecosystem; Xiaomi automobile SU7 supply chain map; Investment Atlas of Xiaomi Automobile Industry Chain

Three paths to help Xiaomi build an industrial chain ecosystem in an all-round way

On March 28th, 2024, Xiaomi officially announced its first mass-produced intelligent electric vehicle, Xiaomi SU7, at the auto launch conference, which also marked that Xiaomi Group officially entered the ranks of "competitors" from "investors". Looking back on the layout of Xiaomi’s smart car business, we can find that Xiaomi’s entry into the smart car field is not a whim, but gradually enters the market by investing in start-ups in the industrial chain, focusing on core technologies and deepening cooperation among supply chain enterprises, and building an ecosystem covering the entire industrial chain of smart cars.

Xiaomi’s construction of the whole industrial chain ecosystem of smart cars is mainly divided into three paths: first, invest first, and comprehensively build the industrial chain ecosystem by investing in start-ups; Second, through the enterprise’s self-research, it has cut into the core technical links such as motor, battery, large die casting, intelligent driving and intelligent cockpit; The third is to deepen cooperation and adopt direct cooperation with suppliers to empower the smart car business. Judging from the link characteristics, Xiaomi’s investment and self-research mainly focus on the core links such as electrification and intelligence, and mainly focus on cooperation in electrical and electronic, chassis/body interior and exterior decoration.

Through the three major paths, the upstream of Xiaomi Automobile has covered battery materials, semiconductors and other related fields, the midstream has covered the core links such as electrification system parts, intelligent cockpit system and intelligent driving system, and the downstream has laid out the automobile after-service market to build an industrial chain ecosystem in an all-round way.

Judging from the main suppliers of Xiaomi Auto SU7, Xiaomi investment company Zejing Electronics AR-HUD products have all supplied Xiaomi SU7 models, and Xiaomi SU7 Pro and Xiaomi SU7Max are equipped with Hesai ultra-high-definition long-range lidar AT128, which has high-order intelligent driving function. Deliveries were started in April and May, 2024 respectively.

Invest first, build the industrial chain ecology in an all-round way.

Since the decision to set foot in the automotive field, Xiaomi has invested in the automotive after-service market related fields such as travel service, automobile transaction, logistics and distribution, and auto insurance maintenance. In the early stage of the official announcement, Xiaomi’s investment in the automotive after-service market gradually tightened, and the investment focus shifted to the fields of autonomous driving and automotive semiconductors; In the late stage of the official announcement of the car, Xiaomi’s investment in the intelligent part of the car has obviously accelerated, and the investment intensity in the fields of intelligent driving, intelligent cockpit, automotive chips and sensors has increased. Up to now, Xiaomi and Xiaomi’s investment institutions have invested in nearly 100 upstream and downstream related enterprises of the smart car industry chain, and comprehensively built the ecology of the smart car industry chain.

Focus deeply and build the core competitive advantage of products.

With the continuous evolution of car intelligence (including intelligent driving and intelligent cockpit) and electrification, the value content of related links is getting higher and higher, and car companies are bound to take these core technologies into their own hands and master the right to speak. Parts and components of electrification system (batteries, motors, etc.), intelligent cockpit, intelligent driving, intelligent chassis, and integrated die casting have all become the key links of self-research of automobile enterprises.

In addition to investing in the relevant links of the industrial chain, Xiaomi focuses on five major automobile core links, such as motor, battery, large die casting, intelligent driving and intelligent cockpit, to carry out technical breakthroughs and build the core competitiveness of automobile products. Specifically, in the motor link, the super motors V6 and V6s jointly developed by Xiaomi, Huichuan Technology and United Automotive Electronics surpass Porsche and Tesla in terms of rotational speed and power density, while the V8s independently developed and produced by Xiaomi has a rotational speed of 27200 rpm, achieving a motor power density of 10.14kw/kg, and is expected to get on the train in 2025; In the battery link, Xiaomi takes improving the volume rate as the starting point, and independently develops the CTB integrated battery technology and the industry-first battery cell inversion technology, which improves the space utilization rate of the battery pack by 77.8%; In the process of large-scale die casting, Xiaomi independently designed a 9,100-ton integrated large-scale die casting equipment cluster system, and completed the whole process and standard self-research of large-scale die casting. At the same time, it independently developed the high-strength and high-toughness heat-treatment-free environmental protection die casting material "Titan Alloy", becoming the only automobile manufacturer in China with mass-produced self-developed large-scale die casting materials. In the intelligent driving link, Xiaomi’s full-stack self-developed intelligent driving technology has improved the perception and recognition technology through three technologies: adaptive zoom BEV technology, large road model and super-resolution occupation network technology. At present, the scale of the exclusive intelligent driving team exceeds 1,000 people; In the intelligent cockpit, Xiaomi is based on Xiaomi 澎湃 OS, creating a closed loop for people and cars.

However, compared with other competing cars, the performance of Xiaomi super motors V6 and V6s is slightly inferior to that of Zhijie S7. In the battery link, the highlight of Xiaomi SU7 compared with other competing cars lies in its innovative integration technology, but from the data point of view, the battery capacity is slightly lower than that of Krypton 007; In the die-casting process, Xiaomi is the only automobile manufacturer in China with self-developed large die-casting materials that can be mass-produced, and its advantages are obvious. However, in terms of die-casting force, Tucki has an integrated die-casting machine with a tonnage of up to 12,000 tons at present, and will soon expand a 16,000-ton die-casting machine, and the competition is fierce; On the level of intelligent driving, there is a big gap between Xiaomi and other competing cars; In the intelligent cockpit system, based on the global ecological layout of Mijia, it shows a strong ecological application experience in the intelligent cabin.

Deepen cooperation and continue to expand the circle of friends in the supply chain.

In terms of traditional hardware, Xiaomi mostly uses direct cooperation with suppliers to empower the smart car business. According to incomplete statistics, in addition to foreign suppliers, more than 40 domestic industrial chain companies have become partners of Xiaomi Automobile. In the future, with the large-scale roll-out of Xiaomi’s automobile business, supply chain partners will continue to expand in the future.

For more research and analysis of this industry, please refer to the Analysis Report on Industry Development Model and Investment Strategic Planning of China Intelligent Networked Vehicle (ICV) by Forward-looking Industry Research Institute.

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