During the 2026 Beijing Auto Show, Chery Auto finalized partnership agreements with five leading suppliers: NVIDIA, Bosch, Qualcomm, Volcano Engine, and CATL. No other automaker at the event engaged in such a high density of strategic collaborations.
Examined individually, each agreement goes beyond conventional procurement. The deal with Bosch involves the joint development of a 48V vehicle architecture, following 18 months of preliminary research and prototype validation before signing a mass-production agreement. The collaboration with NVIDIA extends from intelligent driving to humanoid robotics, encompassing a full technology stack from chips to cloud, rather than simply purchasing chips for installation. The agreement with Qualcomm entails a comprehensive upgrade for cockpit and driving integration, covering multiple brands and vehicle segments. Volcano Engine is integrating its Doubao large language model into Chery's "Xiaoqi" assistant, utilizing an AI infrastructure already proven in 7 million vehicles. CATL is moving beyond battery supply to co-build a battery swap network.
Together, these five partnerships represent not a procurement list, but a closed-loop technological system spanning underlying power supply, core computing, AI interaction, and energy replenishment.
Each collaboration is redefining the decades-old relationship between automakers and suppliers, shifting from a client-vendor dynamic to joint definition. This is why this round of signings warrants serious attention; it is not merely an expansion of a car company's "partner network" but a symbolic shift for Chinese domestic brands from assembling components to defining architectures.
By assembling this "champion circle" of partners, Chery is executing a daring yet precise leap, transforming from a passive vehicle manufacturer into a "system-level ecosystem platform" attempting to control the definition rights for next-generation intelligent vehicle hardware and software.
**From "Component Integration" to "Architectural Control"**
A closer look at each deal reveals Chery's ambition extends beyond procuring parts. The five partnerships target power supply architecture, energy replenishment networks, intelligent driving computing, cockpit chips, and cloud AI, covering the primary technological layers of an intelligent electric vehicle from chassis to cloud.
Regarding power supply, the power limits of the 12V electrical architecture are insufficient for simultaneous operation of intelligent driving, steer-by-wire, and brake-by-wire systems. The mass-production framework for a 48V vehicle architecture signed with Bosch addresses this issue. The parties conducted 18 months of pre-research and prototype validation before signing the production agreement. Chery is not buying an off-the-shelf Bosch solution but is involved from the architecture definition stage.
The agreement with CATL is also not about negotiating battery cell prices. The two parties aim to co-build a battery swap network, with Chery planning to intensively launch multiple battery-swappable models. This transforms the battery from a cost item on the bill of materials into an operational asset within the swap network. Once the battery swap model is successfully implemented, Chery's revenue streams would extend beyond vehicle sales.
For computing power, Chery is choosing to directly align with NVIDIA and Qualcomm. NVIDIA's next-generation autonomous driving computing platform will manage intelligent driving, while Qualcomm's new-generation cockpit chips will handle interaction, locking in both pathways simultaneously. This ensures that Chery's core models over the next 3 to 5 years will not be constrained by computing power for urban Navigate on Autopilot (NOA) and cockpit interactivity.
For the cloud segment, Chery partnered with ByteDance's Volcano Engine. This is not about installing a few apps into the infotainment system, but rather integrating the capabilities of the Doubao large model into the vehicle, using an AI architecture already validated across 7 million vehicles. Chery aims to evolve its "Xiaoqi" assistant from a voice-command tool into an AI assistant capable of proactively understanding contexts.
A senior industry insider noted that while automakers in recent years have often emphasized full-stack in-house development, many engagements actually involve joint development. Chery's intensive signing spree clearly points toward this joint development model.
**Strategic Upgrade Behind the "Champion Circle"**
Viewed superficially, these signings might seem like the familiar story of automakers on a buying spree. However, Chery Chairman Yin Tongyue stated, "Quality is more important than volume, innovation is more important than profit, and partners are more important than Chery itself." Judging by the depth of the collaborations, Chery is genuinely recalibrating its relationships with suppliers.
In the traditional internal combustion engine era, the automaker-supplier relationship was typically a "client pays, vendor delivers a turnkey solution" model, with technology often encapsulated within the supplier's black box. In the current collaborations with Bosch and CATL, however, frequent references are made to joint pre-research and standard co-development. Chery is no longer passively accepting generic solutions but is demanding that suppliers tailor their efforts to Chery's vehicle requirements from the architectural design phase. Joint development opens this technological "black box," granting Chery主导权 (dominant authority) in product definition.
In previous years, the industry debated whether automakers were "handing over their soul" to tech companies. This led many automakers to pursue widespread in-house development across chips, operating systems, and large models, often straining their cash flow. Chery is taking a different path: entrusting computing power, large models, and battery swap standards to leading suppliers, while concentrating its in-house R&D resources on vehicle engineering and system integration.
The challenge with this approach lies in locking in the right partners at the right time, and successfully integrating five independent technology systems into a single, multi-brand platform.
These five partnerships also carry significance for global expansion. During the auto show, Yin Tongyue disclosed that Chery invited over 4,000 overseas partners to the event. The company simultaneously launched its first overseas regional operations center in Barcelona, Spain, and introduced a localization philosophy of "In Somewhere, For Somewhere, Be Somewhere."
NVIDIA and Qualcomm provide intelligent driving and cockpit solutions with global recognition. Bosch's 48V architecture lays the physical foundation for mass production under diverse climate and road conditions. CATL's battery swap network offers the potential to replicate the energy replenishment system overseas. Volcano Engine provides content support for localized AI interaction in overseas models. Combined, the five agreements constitute an exportable, replicable global technology package.
However, intensive partnerships also carry risks. The five partners each have their own technology systems and product cadences. Synchronizing their integration into Chery's multi-brand, multi-platform architecture presents significant engineering challenges.
Through these five agreements, Chery has declared its stance: it will not reinvent the wheel itself, but it intends to hold the steering wheel. Whether this strategy succeeds will depend on the speed and effectiveness of integration and implementation.
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