Li Auto's chip unit Mahex raises RMB 1.625B first round at RMB 15B pre-money valuation
创业邦 · wechat · 2026-10-18
Li Auto's chip subsidiary Mahex Technology signed its first equity financing round totaling RMB 1.625B: RMB 1B from Li Auto and RMB 625M from outside investors (Lingwei/经纬-affiliated Hangzhou Jingtao, BlueRun and Huaye Tiancheng at RMB 200M each, Qiji CtR at RMB 25M). Pre-money valuation is RMB 15B; a further RMB 500M top-up option could lift post-money to RMB 17.1B.
- Mahex is a newly established entity (Aug 2026) with no revenue yet; it will absorb the chip business's assets and staff, with 15% employee and 5% executive incentive pools.
- Its first chip, the 5nm automotive AI inference chip M100, started development in Nov 2022, taped out in 2024, and entered volume production in vehicles in 2026, led by CTO Xie Yan with a 200-person team.
- Parallel: NIO's chip unit Shenjian raised RMB 2.2B+ in Feb 2026, also targeting robotics and agent inference as external markets. The piece argues outside customers — not parent subsidies — will decide whether these car-maker chip spinouts survive against NVIDIA DRIVE and Horizon Robotics.
Related event: Li Auto's chip unit Mach Heart closes 1.63B yuan first funding round(2 posts)→
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