US chipmaker Onsemi to invest $50m in China

US chipmaker onsemi said at the Beijing auto show that it will invest US$50 million in China over the next three years.

It will also keep supplying its latest products to local customers despite broader tensions between Washington and Beijing.

The company decided not to leave China and now sees the country as a base for research and system design rather than only a sales market, said Hassane El-Khoury, CEO of onsemi.

Last month, onsemi also said it had expanded its work with Chinese EV maker Nio on next-generation platforms as the carmaker shifts from 400V to 900V systems.

China accounted for 68.4% of the global new energy passenger vehicle market in 2025.

🔗 Source: Xinhua

🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

Onsemi’s China push rests on advanced power chips

Its work with Nio focuses on EliteSiC silicon carbide chips, used in EV power systems, as Nio shifts to 900V high-voltage platforms 1.
Onsemi says 900V designs can bring faster charging, more range, and better performance for drivers 1.
The agreement expands a multi-year relationship. Onsemi earlier backed Nio’s 400V platforms, and the work now reaches deeper into system engineering 2.

Onsemi’s move captures the complexity of US-China tech ties

The deal undercuts the idea of a full US-China tech break. Even with tension between Washington and Beijing, work can continue in niches such as automotive power semiconductors.
It also aims at a gap in China’s self-sufficiency drive. SMIC, China’s largest contract chipmaker, is moving ahead in advanced manufacturing with reported 7-nanometer production using deep ultraviolet (DUV) lithography. The facts here do not say China trails in yield or processes for high-performance power chips 3.
The move offers a path for other Western tech companies. Deeper ties in China’s growing EV market may help them avoid losing ground to local and other non-US rivals 4.