(Yicai) Oct. 9 -- Chinese new energy vehicle startup Li Auto is accelerating its chip development efforts by setting up a new research and development office in Hong Kong to attract overseas talent, LatePost Auto reported.

Li Auto is recruiting high-level chip designers for a team of around 10 people in the new Hong Kong facility, the report said today. Li Auto set up a semiconductor R&D team in Singapore last November, and previously opened chip R&D offices in Beijing, Shanghai, and Silicon Valley.

As smart driving technology rapidly develops, Chinese carmakers are trying to steal a march on their rivals by developing their own chips. Beijing-based Li Auto is working on two, and has finished designing one for intelligent driving, the report said.

The design has been sent to chip foundry Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company for pilot production and the results will be seen this quarter, the report said, with plans for it to be mass-produced and installed by 2026.

Nio and Xpeng, Li Auto's main competitors, are also developing their own chips. Nio Chief Executive Officer Li Bin announced in July that its intelligent driving chip had been successfully pilot-produced and will be mass-produced for the flagship ET9 model in the first quarter of next year. Xpeng CEO He Xiaopeng disclosed in August the successful pilot production of its smart driving chip.

In the first nine months of this year, Li Auto’s vehicle deliveries increased 40 percent from a year earlier to 341,812 units, ranking first among electric vehicle startups in China. Nio and Xpeng delivered 149,281 and 98,561, up 36 percent and 21 percent, respectively.

Editor: Tom Litting