Storage Chips Adapted to Automotive Electronics: From Safety Baseline to Intelligent Leapfrog, How Can Domestic Chips Break Through?
As cars evolve from "four-wheeled vehicles" to "mobile data centers," the role of storage chips has transcended that of mere "data containers"—they are the core pillars of reliability and intelligence in automotive electronics, critical for millisecond-level responses in smart cockpits, redundancy backups in autonomous driving, and sustained operation in vehicle-grade harsh environments. This article focuses on the in-depth adaptation of storage chips and automotive electronics, analyzes technological evolution trends, breaks down the breakthrough paths of Chinese chips, and reveals domestic players capable of replacing international giants, integrating 20 core keywords to provide a decision-making framework for automotive electronics entrepreneurs.


I. The "stringent demand" of automotive electronics for storage chips: safety is 1, others are 0
The "mobile scenarios + safety red line" characteristics of automotive electronics impose far higher requirements on storage chips than consumer electronics or industrial fields, forming three layers of "rigid demand barriers":
1. Reliability: In extreme environments, the "zero error" automotive grade storage chip must pass AEC-Q100 certification (temperature level must reach Grade 2, i.e. -40 ℃~105 ℃), and be able to cope with working conditions such as exposure to sunlight, severe cold, and vibration. For example, the navigation map data storage of the intelligent cockpit needs to support more than 100000 erase and write cycles, and with the support of ECC error correction (correcting 8-bit errors every 512 bytes), ensure that map loading does not lag and driving records are not lost. Wide temperature storage and anti vibration design become the basic threshold for automotive grade chips.
2.Performance: Matching the "smooth experience" of smart cockpitsMulti-screen interactions in smart cockpits (instrument panel + central control screen + HUD) require UFS 3.1-level storage performance (sequential read speed ≥2100MB/s) to achieve seamless switching between 4K in-vehicle videos and 3D maps. Meanwhile, LPDDR5 memory (bandwidth ≥6400Mbps) must support multitasking—navigation, music, and vehicle status monitoring—with latency controlled within 10ms to avoid "system lag" affecting driving safety.
3.Security: From "data encryption" to "functional safety"Storage chips must pass the ISO 26262 functional safety certification (ASIL-B/D level) and support hardware-level AES-256 encryption to prevent leakage of user privacy data (e.g., driving habits, biometric information). More critically, chips must have fault self-diagnosis capabilities; once storage abnormalities are detected, redundant backup mechanisms can be triggered immediately, meeting the "zero single-point failure" requirement for autonomous driving.


II. Technological Trends in the Next 3 Years: Three "Certainties"
The intelligentization of automotive electronics (L2+ autonomous driving penetration rate will reach 50% by 2025) is driving storage chip technology to upgrade along a clear path:
4.Dual explosion of capacity and speed: Leap from "GB-level" to "TB-level"Map data in smart cockpits (including high-precision 3D maps) will increase from the current 50GB to 200GB; combined with 4K driving recorders and multi-screen entertainment content, single-vehicle storage capacity needs to exceed 1TB. This pushes 3D NAND stacking layers to 300 (Yangtze Memory Technologies has mass-produced 270 layers), while UFS 4.0 (sequential read ≥4200MB/s) will become standard in mid-to-high-end models, resolving the contradiction between "large capacity and high speed."
5.Innovation in storage architecture: From "single storage" to "hierarchical intelligent management"Future vehicles will adopt hierarchical storage for "hot data-warm data-cold data": SLC NAND (high-speed, long-life) stores real-time driving data (e.g., millimeter-wave radar signals), TLC NAND stores warm data like navigation maps, and QLC NAND archives historical driving records. Chip-level intelligent caching algorithms will dynamically allocate resources, improving storage efficiency by 40%—a technology already adopted by Tesla's 4680 platform.
6.Vehicle-cloud integration drive: "Edge storage" and "cloud collaboration"With the popularization of vehicle networking (V2X), cars need to synchronize data with the cloud in real-time, requiring storage chips to support the NVMe over Fabrics protocol for low-latency interaction between in-vehicle storage and cloud data centers. Meanwhile, storage-class memory (SCM) such as MRAM will serve as "on-vehicle temporary caches," addressing DRAM's stability shortcomings at high temperatures, and is expected to be widely used in L3 autonomous driving models by 2026.


III. "Breakthrough Path" of Chinese Chips: From "Vehicle-Grade Certification" to "Supply Chain Onboarding"
The breakthrough of domestic storage chips in the automotive electronics field follows a gradual logic of "first certification, then supporting, finally replacement," and has now completed the critical leap from "laboratory" to "vehicle installation."
7.Technological breakthroughs: Surpassing vehicle-grade "hard indicators"
Yangtze Memory Technologies (YMT): Its 270-layer Xtacking architecture 3D NAND passed AEC-Q100 Grade 2 certification, with erase-write lifespan reaching 30,000 cycles (far exceeding the vehicle-grade requirement of 10,000 cycles) and data retention (data persistence after power-off) of 10 years. It has been adapted to the map storage module of Geely Galaxy OS smart cockpits.
ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT): Vehicle-grade LPDDR4X passed ISO 26262 ASIL-B certification, with operating temperature covering -40℃~105℃ and latency ≤15ns. It is adopted by BYD's e-platform 3.0 cockpit domain controller, replacing approximately 8% of Micron's share.
Beijing Junzheng: Its NOR Flash (used for in-vehicle MCU programs) holds 12% of the global market share, passed AEC-Q100 Grade 1 certification (-40℃~125℃), and has replaced Macronix in Great Wall Motors' body control modules.
8.Ecological collaboration: Building a "vehicle-grade supply chain" closed loopA domestic "design-manufacturing-packaging-testing-certification" vehicle-grade storage industry chain has formed: Zhongwei provides vehicle-grade etching equipment, Tongfu Microelectronics' SiP packaging technology meets chip anti-vibration requirements, and China Automotive Engineering Research Institute (CAERI) can complete full AEC-Q100 testing. This collaboration shortens the domestic chip's vehicle-grade certification cycle from 18 months to 12 months, 30% faster than international brands.
9.Market penetration: Leap from "Tier 2" to "Tier 1"The replacement path of domestic chips shows a "from edge to core" trend: first replacing Samsung TLC NAND in in-vehicle infotainment systems (e.g., Roewe RX5's central control storage) with a 15% share; then entering cockpit domain controllers (e.g., XPeng G6's passenger entertainment screen storage), with CXMT's LPDDR4X accounting for 12%; in 2024, YMT's UFS 3.1 product passed CATL's vehicle-grade battery management system (BMS) certification, beginning to penetrate core safety domains. It is expected that by 2026, the penetration rate of domestic storage chips in China's automotive electronics market will exceed 25%.

IV. Domestic "Powerhouses" Capable of Replacing International Brands: Case Studies of Three Types of Enterprises
In the field of automotive electronics storage, the following Chinese brands already have the strength to compete with Samsung, Micron, and Kioxia. Their replacement scenarios and performance are clear:
10.Yangtze Memory Technologies: "Pioneer" of vehicle-grade NAND Flash
Replaced target: Samsung's vehicle-grade TLC NAND (used for smart cockpit storage).
Adapted models: Geely Galaxy L7, Li Auto L6 smart cockpits.
Core advantages: The 270-layer Xtacking architecture offers 30% higher storage density than Samsung's 212-layer products, 18% lower per-GB cost, and supports vehicle-grade ECC algorithm customization, perfectly adapting to high-frequency read-write needs of map data. Currently, YMT has replaced 12% of Samsung's share in Geely's supply chain and plans to enter Tesla Shanghai Factory's supply chain in 2025.
11.ChangXin Memory Technologies: "Chaser" of vehicle-grade DRAM
Replaced target: Micron's vehicle-grade LPDDR4X (used for cockpit domain controllers).
Adapted models: BYD Dolphin, GAC AION Y.
Cre advantages: Its vehicle-grade LPDDR4X has 6% higher energy efficiency ratio (bandwidth per watt) than Micron's, shows no data errors in -40℃ low-temperature tests, and has a supply cycle of only 6 weeks (Micron requires 12 weeks). Its upcoming mass-produced vehicle-grade LPDDR5 (bandwidth 8533Mbps) has entered NIO ET5's testing list, expected to replace 5% of SK Hynix's share.
12.Beijing Junzheng: "Hidden Champion" of NOR Flash
Rplaced target: Macronix and Micron's vehicle-grade NOR Flash (used for in-vehicle MCUs).
Adapted scenarios: Great Wall Motors' body control modules, Chery's in-vehicle sensors.
Core advantages: Its SPI NOR Flash has erase-write cycles of 100,000 (vs. 50,000 for international brands) and 20% faster boot speed, holding 28% of China's in-vehicle NOR market share. It has become a major supplier for Chang'an and BAIC, fully replacing Taiwanese brands.