Xiaomi Unveils Three 3nm Self-Developed Chips for Phones, Edge AI and Autonomous Driving

The D100 is highlighted as China's first 3nm smart-driving chip. It integrates a 20-core CPU and a 16-core NPU, supports up to 160GB of unified memory, and can locally deploy models with more than 200 billion parameters. The chip also supports multi-chip fusion computing, allowing computing power to scale horizontally and breaking the traditional limit where a vehicle's computing capability is fixed at purchase. Unlike chips from Nvidia or Qualcomm, the D100 will not be sold externally; it is designed exclusively for Xiaomi's own intelligent driving systems, with demand definition, architecture design, software adaptation and vehicle validation all completed inside Xiaomi.

Xiaomi's chip journey began in 2014 with the founding of Pinecone Electronics and the release of the Surge S1 in 2017. That first attempt faltered, and the project was later restructured. In 2021, Xiaomi restarted its serious chip effort with a plan to invest at least 50 billion yuan over ten years. By August 2026, cumulative R&D spending on chips exceeded 21 billion yuan, and the team had grown to more than 3,100 people, according to Leiphone.

Xiaomi's approach differs from that of many automakers that have also developed self-driving chips. Tesla started early, while NIO, XPeng and Li Auto have all brought self-developed chips to market in recent years. Xiaomi is described as going the furthest by using a 3nm process for its driving chip, while most rivals remain on 4nm, 5nm or 7nm. The company's vertically integrated model allows for faster iteration, with software and hardware teams working inside the same organization to adapt to changing algorithm requirements.

Lei Jun, Xiaomi's founder, said when the Surge S1 was launched in 2017 that "chips are the commanding heights of mobile phone technology." In 2022, when internal doubts arose over the heavy investment in both vehicle and chip development, Lei asked senior executives whether giving up would bring relief or regret. Xiaomi ultimately decided to continue, committing to at least a decade of effort and at least 50 billion yuan in investment.

The persistence paid off with the Xuanjie O1 in May 2025, which made Xiaomi the world's fourth company to produce a 3nm smartphone SoC, after Apple, Qualcomm and MediaTek. By April 2026, more than one million O1 chips had shipped. The new trio of chips aims to further solidify Xiaomi's AI computing foundation across its products, from phones to cars to smart home devices.