Reports indicate that following the successful tape-out of the M97 chip, a collaboration between NIO's chip unit Shenji and Axera Technology, Shenji and Axera are now actively engaging with automakers such as Leapmotor and Geely. Additionally, Shenji and Axera are reportedly planning the development of an entry-level chip. As of the time of writing, NIO has not issued an official response to these reports.

In December 2023, NIO unveiled its first self-developed autonomous driving chip, the Shenji NX9031, at NIO Day. The chip utilizes a 5nm process technology. It was officially launched in mass production on the NIO ET9 model in April 2025. In June 2025, NIO spun off its in-house chip development business to establish Anhui Shenji. By November 2025, Anhui Shenji, Axera Technology, and OmniVision Technologies jointly established a合资公司 named Chongqing Chuangyuan Zhihang Technology Co., Ltd. to offer external services.

NIO Founder and Chairman William Li has publicly stated that the performance of the Shenji NX9031 is comparable to four NVIDIA Orin-X chips. He recently expressed his hope that NIO's self-developed, high-computing-power Shenji inference chip could be made available to more partners, including players in the automotive industry and the embodied AI sector. Li also revealed that Shenji's second advanced smart chip, targeted at a broader customer base, has successfully completed tape-out and is currently in the mass production phase.