Xiaomi Doubles Down on Chips, Robots, and AI to Broaden Its Tech Ambitions

Xiaomi’sXIACF

ambitions have quietly outgrown the “budget smartphone” label it once wore. At Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, President Lu Weibing told CNBC the company plans to launch a new XRing smartphone chip processor each year — putting it on a cadence similar to AppleAAPL

among device makers designing their own processors. However, this is just one part of Xiaomi’s broader technology push:

• The company is also testing humanoid robots on its EV assembly lines while preparing its own AI assistant for global markets.
• The company’s humanoid robots already handle ~90% of factory tasks, competing with TeslaTSLA
  as it ramps production of its Optimus robot in the US-China robotics race.

The long runway: Xiaomi’s ambitions don’t stop at hardware. Lu confirmed the company will combine its XRing chip, HyperOS operating system, and AI assistant into a single device in China this year. With CEO Lei Jun committing ~$6.9B to chip development over the next decade and overseas expansion in the works, Xiaomi is betting it all on its tech empire stack.