A Lackluster Golden September: The AI Supply Chain Levies a Storage Chip Toll on Automakers

In September 2026, national passenger car retail sales reached 1.618 million units, down 28.0% year on year. The China Passenger Car Association linked the weak retail performance to the AI supply chain driving up chip and memory prices for the first time. AI data centers account for nearly 50% of global storage consumption, and manufacturers such as Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron are shifting advanced capacity to HBM, shrinking the supply of automotive DRAM and NAND. Lei Jun said automotive-grade memory prices rose 40%-50% last quarter, and Xiaomi's Smart EV segment gross margin fell from 24.3% to 19.2%.