Chinese automaker Great Wall Motor is planning to set up a fully-owned semiconductor subsidiary to foster its own chip design and manufacturing with a registered capital of RMB 50 million ($6.9 million), according to an announcement last Friday. In August, the BMW manufacturing partner in China unveiled plans to build a RMB 3.8 billion facility for packaging and testing automotive-grade semiconductors in the eastern Chinese city of Wuxi. Domestic rival BYD already makes and sells microcontroller chips for its own vehicles, while Geely’s auto tech startup Ecarx is set to begin mass production of its seven-nanometer chip for vehicle information and entertainment systems by year-end. [Great Wall Motor statement, in Chinese]