(Yicai) June 18 -- As smart car manufacturers further develop their autonomous driving chips, a risk of oversupply emerges, according to the founder of Chinese new energy vehicle startup Leapmotor Technology.

The annual demand for self-driving chips is only about 10 to 20 million units, while there are 14 different chip products available on the market, Zhu Jiangming, who is also the chairman and chief executive officer of Leapmotor, said at a launch event on June 16.

In addition to foreign companies like Qualcomm and Nvidia, Chinese firms such as tech giant Huawei Technologies and NEV makers BYD, Nio, Xpeng Group, Li Auto and several others are also involved in chip production.

All of Leapmotor's vehicle models are equipped with Qualcomm chips. At this moment, the company’s primary focus is to ensure that the development of smart vehicles is executed effectively, Zhu noted.

Leapmotor's focus over the next three years is to expand its scale, Zhu said several times this year. "When we reach a scale similar to that of Toyota Motor, we might then consider whether to develop our own autonomous driving chips."

But before reaching that scale, Leapmotor will continue to focus its research and development efforts on core components that can generate value and on building complete vehicle products with higher levels of innovation, Zhu pointed out.

Leapmotor sold 596,600 NEVs last year, 67,000 units of which were abroad. Both domestic and overseas sales ranked first among Chinese NEV startups. Moreover, the firm achieved a net profit of CNY540 million (USD79.8 million), becoming the second NEV startup to achieve annual profit after Li Auto.

Leapmotor set its 2026 sales target at one million vehicles, including 100,000 to 150,000 units overseas. It expects to achieve an annual net profit of CNY5 billion (USD740 million). In the first five months of the year, Leapmotor sold 263,100 NEVs, with 75,000 units overseas.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Futura Costaglione