Photo: via Weibo/CNEVPost
In the corporate world, companies only publicly talk about their suppliers or clients if both parties agree it is ok. It seems AMD forgot that basic principle and decided to say that NIO vehicles use its chips. NIO didn’t like it and denied that was the case.
The embarrassing episode happened in China, more specifically on one of the country’s leading social media: Weibo. After AMD shared a video there stating that NIO was using its EPYC chips in development vehicles. AMD’s video states they were placed in NIO’s high-performance computing (HPC) platform.
Ma Lin did not like that. NIO’s senior director of corporate communications also went to Weibo to call the video “unfortunate” and ask AMD to remove it immediately. That is not even the worst part of the story.
The NIO executive had already discussed the issue with AMD in private. According to him, the chipmaker erased the video from its official website but not the marketing campaign on Weibo. This was why Ma decided to post on Weibo to ask the company to remove the video there. The executive also reinforced that NIO and AMD are not working together and that they are not discussing cooperation.
Sadly for NIO and Ma, the move did not seem to make any difference. According to CNEVPost, AMD did not remove the video from Weibo, and it had reached 1.01 million viewers the last time the publication checked it. If it is still online, we would not be surprised to see this escalating to a lawsuit.
Although it is a highly delicate moment to enter any dispute with a chipmaker, AMD is the one looking bad in this case. If NIO denies they are working together or even thinking about future cooperation, why would it create a video based on something that did not happen? If it did happen but was not something NIO wanted to be public, why not talk to the carmaker before doing any marketing campaign? Only AMD may answer that.
Ma Lin did not like that. NIO’s senior director of corporate communications also went to Weibo to call the video “unfortunate” and ask AMD to remove it immediately. That is not even the worst part of the story.
The NIO executive had already discussed the issue with AMD in private. According to him, the chipmaker erased the video from its official website but not the marketing campaign on Weibo. This was why Ma decided to post on Weibo to ask the company to remove the video there. The executive also reinforced that NIO and AMD are not working together and that they are not discussing cooperation.
Sadly for NIO and Ma, the move did not seem to make any difference. According to CNEVPost, AMD did not remove the video from Weibo, and it had reached 1.01 million viewers the last time the publication checked it. If it is still online, we would not be surprised to see this escalating to a lawsuit.
Although it is a highly delicate moment to enter any dispute with a chipmaker, AMD is the one looking bad in this case. If NIO denies they are working together or even thinking about future cooperation, why would it create a video based on something that did not happen? If it did happen but was not something NIO wanted to be public, why not talk to the carmaker before doing any marketing campaign? Only AMD may answer that.
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