XPeng Is Selling Its Brain to Rivals While Wall Street Still Prices the Sheet Metal
Published on 09/22/2026 at 22:30 | Editorial boerse-global.de
XPeng has spent the past year quietly repositioning itself, and the shift is now visible on two fronts at once: a licensing push aimed at outside automakers and a robotics operation that one major bank already values at nearly a third of the company.
At the center of the licensing strategy is a plan, first reported by Reuters, to supply foreign carmakers with XPeng's electrical and electronic architecture, cockpit systems, its in-house Turing AI chips, and advanced driver-assistance software. The offer extends well beyond the existing partnership with Volkswagen. According to the report, potential partners have already signaled interest, though no new collaborators or binding agreements have been announced.
For a company that has historically competed on vehicle volume, the appeal is straightforward: licensing software and computing silicon to rivals turns research spending into a revenue stream that doesn't depend on how many cars roll off the line each month. It also positions XPeng as a technology supplier for intelligent vehicle systems rather than just another manufacturer fighting for share in a crowded market.
A Robotics Line That Moves on Its Own
The physical AI ambitions go further than software. XPeng recently opened a production line for humanoid robots, a facility where core processes run more than 80 percent automated. The line produced IRON, a robot that walked off the assembly floor under its own power. The stock climbed 3.3 percent in the week following that milestone.
Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying XPeng?
Robotaxis and broader physical AI applications, including the operational side of autonomous driving, are now part of the stated focus. The market has begun to take notice. On September 9, UBS initiated coverage with a neutral rating and a price target of 47.00 HK$. In its sum-of-the-parts valuation, the Swiss bank attributes roughly 30 percent of the company's value to the robotics segment — a striking figure for a business most investors still classify as a cyclical automaker.
Deliveries Hold the Line as Global Reach Expands
The core car business remains the operational foundation, and it is still growing. XPeng reported 39,107 vehicles delivered in August, a 4 percent increase year over year. International expansion is doing much of the heavy lifting on the demand side.
Right-hand-drive models have entered series production at the Guangzhou plant for the Australian market. On October 12, the global premiere of the G9L is scheduled for the Paris Motor Show, with the AI flagship SUV earmarked for 64 countries and regions. That rollout follows an earlier step in the autonomous driving build-out: roughly three weeks ago, the company received approval for remote-controlled vehicle testing in its development operations.
The Market Hasn't Caught Up
None of this has translated into stock performance yet. The shares trade at EUR 9.16, down 49 percent since the start of the year, though they recovered 3.4 percent over the past week. The valuation still reflects a company punished for the broader industry slump, not one building a technology ecosystem spanning Turing chips, driver-assistance software, and robotics.
Whether that gap closes depends on execution. Additional licensing deals with established manufacturers and further industrialization of robot production are the levers that would turn the strategic repositioning into earnings. Until contracts are signed, the transformation remains a promise the market has chosen to discount.
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