On June 7, Weilai and AMD reached a cooperation agreement. AMD will provide Weilai automobile with HPC high-performance computing platform through epyc Xiaolong processor to support simulation applications. The form of cooperation between AMD and Weilai this time is different from Tesla's direct purchase of its chips. Amd only provides Weilai with processors to improve the performance of simulation training software. According to the official forecast, after using AMD epyc Xiaolong processor for AI training, the task volume of one-day simulation can be increased by 50% year-on-year, and the overall cost of TCO can be saved by more than 50%.
For electric vehicles, the most important step in the R & D and design process is to conduct tests such as collision simulation and wind resistance analysis. The performance requirements of high-performance simulation software such as FEA and CFD are not low. With the adoption of Xiaolong processor, the number of simulation tasks processed on the Weilai HPC platform can reach about 240 every day. In the next 3-5 years, TCO savings are expected to exceed 50%, further shortening the automobile R & D cycle, enabling new cars to be launched into the market faster and always occupying a leading position in the industry. Although improving R & D efficiency is a good thing, some netizens think that this cooperation looks like Wei Lai purchased a batch of processors from AMD, and the form of cooperation is not in-depth.
AMD is not as radical in the automotive chip market as Intel. Earlier, Tesla replaced the entertainment information system chips in its model 3 and model y with AMD ryzen chips from Intel's atom a3950 processor. Due to the excessive heating of AMD ryzen, the central touch screen failed. This hardware replacement led Tesla to recall 130000 electric vehicles directly, with heavy losses.
Although the cooperation between Weilai and AMD is not deep this time, we can also see Weilai's efforts in R & D investment. After Wei Lai disclosed that the cooperation with AMD could save nearly half of the R & D costs, netizens said that it would be better if the saved funds could be reflected in the final selling price.