On March 15th, China’s home appliance conglomerate, Midea Group, revealed that the company is planning to mass-produce automotive chips in 2024 for new energy vehicles' water pump control. 

Photo credit: Midea Group

Specifically, Midea Group facilitated a schedule to start producing MCU chips from 2020 to 2021, beginning mass production in 2021 with an annual designed capacity of roughly 10 million units. By 2024, Midea Group will be able to manufacture auto-grade chips in bulk. 

Moreover, the group mentioned its jointly-owned subsidiary, MR Semiconductor Ltd., which was established in 2018. The subsidiary conducts chips R&D work dedicated to home appliance, industrial, automotive, and medical fields. 

Aside from MR Semiconductor, Midea Group has another indirectly wholly-owned chip-making subsidiary, Meiken Semiconductor Technology Co., Ltd. The company is registered to operate in integrated circuit chip manufacturing and sales, electronic components manufacturing, and new energy technology R&D fields. 

Currently, Midea Group’s self-developed MCU chips are all that of home appliance purposes, which are not as complex as those used on vehicles. 

Additionally, Midea Group has been laying out in the new energy vehicle field for quite some time now. The company established an auto part company named Anqing Welling Auto Parts Co., Ltd. on January 12th, 2022.