Finding
Zeekr builds the whole drivable vehicle in Ningbo as sole source, and Waymo adds sensors, compute and software in Arizona
The ring holds 17 supplier rows across 10 layers: five in-house, four sole source, eight China-supplied and five with the supplier not disclosed.
A two-country ring: the whole drivable vehicle (body, pack, motor, thermal, power electronics, base software) is a sole-source Zeekr product from Ningbo, while Waymo supplies the sensor suite, a custom 5 nm compute chip fabbed by TSMC in Taiwan, and the software, integrated at the Magna-run plant in Mesa. Nearly every vehicle-layer supplier is undisclosed. The US Commerce Department connected-vehicle rule (Chinese software barred from model year 2027, hardware from 2030) and the tariff stack on Chinese EVs make the Zeekr base the chokepoint; the Hyundai Ioniq 5 is Waymo's named alternative platform.
The ring
Who supplies each layer
In-house rows first in each layer, then sole, primary, second and multi-source suppliers. The left border shows the supplier country: red China, gold Japan, Korea or Taiwan, blue the US and Europe, gray not disclosed. Confidence: confirmed (company or filing), reported (credible press), inferred (deduced, not disclosed).
| Supplier | Component | Country | Plant or location | Relationship | Confidence | Evidence and links |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cells | ||||||
| not disclosed | 93 kWh Li-ion pack cells (800 V) Candidates (inferred): CATL, CALB, Geely in-house (VREMT); pack Zeekr in-house | China | China | reported | inferred | press report (capacity only) |
| Thermal | ||||||
| not disclosed | Battery and cabin thermal system Candidates (inferred): Sanhua, Yinlun | China | China | reported | inferred | none EV Thermal Management Systems |
| Motor and drive | ||||||
| not disclosed | 200 kW rear PMSM Candidate (inferred): Geely VREMT (Viridi E-Mobility) in-house e-drive | China | China | reported | inferred | certification document (output only) Traction Motors and Magnets |
| Magnets and rare earths | ||||||
| not disclosed | Motor magnets China-made by default | China | China | reported | inferred | none Magnet Manufacturing for Motors |
| Power electronics and SiC | ||||||
| STMicroelectronics | SiC MOSFETs for inverter Deal covers Geely mid and high-end EVs across brands; Ojai not named | Switzerland | Sanan-ST JV Chongqing, China; Catania, Italy | reported | inferred | press report (Geely group deal) EV Power Semiconductors |
| onsemi | SiC devices Zeekr is a named onsemi EliteSiC customer; Ojai not named | US | US; Czech Republic; South Korea | reported | inferred | company customer list EV Power Semiconductors |
| Compute and AI chips | ||||||
| TSMC (fab for Waymo design) Parent: TSMC | Custom 5 nm sensor-fusion ASIC Disclosed 20 Aug 2026; Taiwan fab is the chokepoint | Taiwan | Taiwan | sole source | confirmed | company blog Autonomy Compute Platforms |
| Socionext | Compute collaborators (memory, accelerators, ASIC services) Waymo also names AMD, Micron, NVIDIA, Samsung, SanDisk as collaborators; roles not itemized | Japan | Japan | reported | reported | company blog Autonomy Compute Platforms |
| Sensors | ||||||
| Waymo | 6th-gen long- and short-range lidar (4 units) In-house chip and optics; core parts designed and built in California | US | California, US | in-house | confirmed | company blog Vehicle LiDAR Sensors |
| Waymo | Imaging radar (6 units) In-house design; fab and module maker not disclosed | US | US | in-house | confirmed | company blog Vehicle Radar Sensors |
| Waymo | External audio receivers (microphone array) Siren and rail-crossing detection | US | US | in-house | confirmed | company blog EV Sensors |
| not disclosed | 17 MP camera imagers (13 cameras) Candidates (inferred): Sony, onsemi, OmniVision | reported | inferred | company blog (spec only) Vehicle Camera Modules | ||
| Software and autonomy | ||||||
| Waymo | Waymo Driver (6th gen) Same Driver also on Hyundai Ioniq 5 (US-built alternative platform) | US | Mountain View, California, US | in-house | confirmed | company blog Autonomous Vehicle Platforms |
| Zeekr (Geely) Parent: Geely | Base-vehicle connectivity software (Chinese-origin) BIS connected-vehicle rule bars Chinese software from MY2027 and hardware from MY2030 unless authorized | China | China | sole source | reported | law firm analysis of BIS rule Geely Holding |
| Structure and body | ||||||
| Zeekr (Geely) Parent: Geely | Body, sliding doors, sensor-cleaning wipers 10 wipers total | China | Ningbo, Zhejiang, China | sole source | confirmed | press report Geely Holding |
| Final assembly | ||||||
| Waymo with Magna International Parent: Waymo | Waymo Driver integration plant 239,000 sq ft; Magna is Canadian; tens of thousands a year at build-out | US | Mesa, Arizona, US | in-house | confirmed | press report |
| Zeekr (Geely) Parent: Geely | Base vehicle (purpose-built van) 3,200+ imported; 102.5% tariff, landed chassis about $78,000 | China | Ningbo, Zhejiang, China | sole source | confirmed | press report Geely Holding |
Sources
Sources and scope
- Scope
- Waymo Ojai supplier ring
- Sources
- ElectronsX flagship machine ring dataset: teardowns, company releases and filings, supplier disclosures and trade press; one source per row
- Updated
- 2026-10