Chinese electric car maker BYD presents the model in an open space area during IAA mobility held in Munich, Bavaria, Germany on September 12, 2025.
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byd I have a backup plan. nvidia The chips they currently use are being used in cars, a top executive of a Chinese electric car manufacturer told CNBC on Tuesday.
Stella Li, executive vice president of BYD, said the company has not received an order from the Chinese government to stop using NVIDIA chips, but if that were the case, there is a Plan B.
“Everyone has a backup. BYD has a backup,” Li told CNBC’s Dan Murphy.
Li refused to expand what the plan was, but she pointed to the Covid-19 pandemic, and during that time there was a global shortage of semiconductors that had a severe impact on the automotive sector. At the time, BYD developed a number of technologies within the company, saying “no problem,” and was able to quickly source alternatives.
In fact, BYD is trying to control a large part of its supply chain, from manufacturing its own car to developing its own batteries.
“We have a lot of powerful things… deeper technology, in-house, we always have a backup,” says Li.
Nvidia, whose chips support much of the world’s artificial intelligence development, is caught up in crossfire amid tensions between the US and China. The company’s H20 AI chips are specifically designed to comply with US export restrictions to China, but were initially banned and allowed to be sold in China this year after a revenue share trade between Washington and Nvidia.
Now, China is reportedly discouraging local tech companies from purchasing Nvidia’s AI chips.
However, Nvidia designs a completely different set of semiconductors for cars.
One of Nvidia’s systems, the Nvidia Drive Agx Orin is designed to allow cars to autonomously perform several driving tasks. BYD is a customer of this product.
So far, there is no indication that the Chinese government is trying to ban this Nvidia system.
Li said BYD has not been told to stop using Nvidia products, adding that it is unlikely that Beijing will ban American companies’ auto chips.
“I don’t think any country will do that because this auto kills nvidia,” Lee said. “So, Nvidia is the best market value company right now. So if they lose a big market from China… no one wants to see this.”
