Silicon ambition
BYD puts technology at the center of its vision for mobility
THE Yangwang U9, promoted as the world’s fastest production EV, on display in Zhengzhou and later experienced on the race track.
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BYD puts technology at the center of its vision for mobility
THE Yangwang U9, promoted as the world’s fastest production EV, on display in Zhengzhou and later experienced on the race track.
INSIDE the Yangwang U9, where advanced control systems meet supercar performance.
A DISPLAY model highlights BYD’s focus on technology beneath the surface of its vehicles.
Photographs by Enrique Garcia for Daily Tribune
THE Yangwang U8 shows its extreme capability by climbing a steep indoor sand dune.
DAILY TRIBUNE discovers how BYD is positioning itself as a technology leader, not just an automaker.
When car companies invite the media to test drives, the usual story is about horsepower or maybe how fast the new model can go from zero to a hundred. That was certainly part of the BYD 2025 Philippines Media Trip in Zhengzhou, China. We saw the Yangwang U9, billed as the world’s fastest production EV, and the Yangwang U8, an SUV that can wade through water and climb sand dunes. The rides were impressive, but what stood out more was what powered them behind the scenes.
BYD is quietly building itself into a technology company with semiconductors at its core.
During a session with executives, Javy Wang, BYD Asia Pacific senior product manager, presented BYD’s new technologies. I asked him, as a representative of DAILY TRIBUNE and drawing from my own background in semiconductors and renewable energy after years with NEC/IBM, Texas Instruments, Philips, and SunPower, how deep BYD’s semiconductor involvement really was. I wanted to know if it covered the entire chain, from silicon ingots to wafer fabrication, design, assembly and testing.
He explained that BYD has been in semiconductors since 2011. The company is involved in the processes except for wafer fabrication. It was a straightforward reply, but it said a lot about BYD’s strategy. The company is not merely assembling cars. It is embedding technology into its foundation.
BYD has built one of the largest patent portfolios among global carmakers, with tens of thousands of applications and approvals across different fields. Its engineers file new patents every day, which underscores the brand’s aggressive push in research and development.
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The benefits of this work are visible in BYD’s product lineup. The Yangwang U9 delivers extreme performance that depends on BYD’s power electronics and control chips. The U8 can move through water and climb dunes because its motor systems and energy management are backed by in-house semiconductor know-how. Even the more familiar DM-i and DM-p hybrids are supported by chips that manage energy and performance.
BYD does not yet operate advanced wafer fabs. It must still depend on partners for some critical steps. But BYD is positioning itself not only as a car company but also as a technology company with chips at the center of its vision.
This trip was billed as a “tech-empowered driving experience,” and it lived up to the name. It was a glimpse of BYD’s transformation into a company that makes its own cutting-edge chips and batteries and files patents at a staggering pace.
That is the bigger picture. BYD is building technology and shaping the future of mobility.
That was the story that stood out for me in Zhengzhou.
