U.S. chip giant Nvidia is finding success in China by riding the country’s EV boom

Several Chinese electric carmakers are turning to U.S. chip giant Nvidia to power their semi-autonomous driving systems, as they ramp up competition with Tesla in the world’s largest car market.

Chinese start-ups Xpeng and Nio are using the Nvidia Drive Orin chip in their latest cars. Baidu, which last year launched an auto unit called Jidu, announced plans to use the same Nvidia chip in its upcoming car, as well as Polestar, a brand under Chinese auto giant Geely.

With this chipset and accompanying software platform, Nvidia promises the capabilities for fully autonomous driving.

“For a Chinese EV company, or globally, there is not much to match what Nvidia can offer,” said Bevin Jacob, partner at Shanghai-based investment and consulting firm Automobility.

However, these Chinese carmakers are not putting out fully autonomous cars. Instead, they are focusing on so-called advanced driver-assistance system, or ADAS. These are systems that allow the car to carry out some functions semi-autonomously, such as lane switching. For example, Tesla’s ADAS is called Autopilot while Xpeng’s system is Xpilot.

ADAS — along with other features like fast charging and range — are “key differentiators” in the high-end electric vehicle space, according to Aakash Arora, managing director and partner at Boston Consulting Group.

“Most EV models today compete in price segments where having ADAS is critical from a customer expectation perspective,” Arora said. “Early adopters of EVs are also likely early technology adopters and value technology features more.”