Manufacturing · Profile from Manufacturing Research Companion: Companies, Strategic Moves, and Technical Studies
Xiaomi
The Beijing consumer-electronics company founded in 2010 by Lei Jun (from memory, verify month) that sold smartphones without owning the plants that assembled them, listed in Hong Kong in Jul 2018 as the first company under the exchange's new weighted-voting-rights rules (from memory, verify), and then did what almost no electronics company has managed: it built a car factory and made it run at volume. Lei Jun announced the electric-vehicle business in Mar 2021 with a ten-year commitment of ~$10bn (from memory, verify); the SU7 sedan launched on 28 Mar 2024 from a company-owned plant in Beijing's Yizhuang district; the YU7 SUV followed on 26 Jun 2025 with a reported 240,000 locked-in orders in 18 hours. Xiaomi delivered 411,082 vehicles in 2025, and its "smart EV, AI and other new initiatives" segment had revenue of RMB106.1bn and its first annual operating profit, RMB0.9bn (annual results, 24 Mar 2026, as reported). The same years brought the industry's sharpest safety tests of a newcomer: a fatal crash of an SU7 using assisted driving in Anhui in late Mar 2025, a recall of 116,887 SU7s by software update in Sep 2025, and a fatal SU7 Ultra crash in Chengdu in Oct 2025 in which the doors could not be opened. In Q2 2026 the segment was back in loss (RMB2.6bn) on weaker pricing while Xiaomi aimed at 550,000 deliveries for the year (company, as reported). Xiaomi's story turns on process capability bought at speed: a company that had always outsourced assembly decided that a car had to be made in its own plant, and found that the hard part of heavy manufacturing is not the first car but the product-safety discipline that comes with the hundred-thousandth.
At a glance
- Founded
- 2010, Beijing, by Lei Jun and co-founders (from memory, verify month and co-founder list)
- Headquarters
- Beijing, China
- Ownership / structure
- Listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (1810) since Jul 2018 with weighted voting rights (dual-class) that give Lei Jun control of the votes (from memory, verify current percentages). Not listed in the US
- Leadership (2026)
- Lei Jun, founder, chairman and CEO (from memory, verify titles); EV unit led by Lei Jun with a dedicated Xiaomi EV management team (verify names)
- Business lines
- Smartphones; "IoT and lifestyle products" (TVs, appliances, wearables); internet services (advertising, games on its HyperOS/MIUI devices); "smart EV, AI and other new initiatives" (cars from 2024) (company segment names as reported; verify)
- Scale
- FY2025: revenue RMB457.3bn (+25%); operating profit RMB47.9bn (+95.5%); adjusted net profit RMB39.2bn (+43.8%); EV and AI segment revenue RMB106.1bn (+223.8%), gross margin 24.3% (+5.8 points), operating profit RMB0.9bn — its first annual profit; Q4 2025 segment revenue RMB37.2bn, operating profit RMB1.1bn (annual results, 24 Mar 2026, via CnEVPost, Gasgoo, electrive). Q2 2026 (18 Aug 2026): group revenue ~RMB108.9bn (−6.1%); adjusted net profit RMB6.2bn (−42.6%); segment revenue ~RMB24.9bn (+17.1%), of which EVs ~RMB23.9bn; segment operating **loss RMB2
- Vehicle output
- Deliveries 411,082 in 2025 (Q4 145,115); 185,055 in H1 2026 (+17.18%; CnEVPost; Gasgoo "nearly 180,000"); Q2 2026 104,199 (+28.2%); more than 30,000 a month in Apr–Jul 2026 (company via CnEVPost); 2026 target 550,000 (company)
- Plants
- Smartphones: assembled mainly by contract manufacturers in China and India (Foxconn among them in India, reported — Supply chain: Foxconn India move), plus Xiaomi-owned highly automated "smart factories" in Beijing (company claims, from memory, verify). Cars: Beijing Yizhuang EV plant — phase 1 ~150,000 vehicles a year, two shifts since Jun 2024; phase 2 into production around Jul–Aug 2025; phases 1 and 2 together reported at ~300,000 a year; land acquired for a possible phase 3 (CnEVPost, CarNewsChina, as reported)
- Signature moves (incl. failures)
- Founding and the contract-manufacturing model (2010); the Hong Kong IPO and weighted voting rights (2018); the Beijing smartphone smart factories (2019–24); the EV entry and the ten-year commitment (2021); the SU7 launch and the Yizhuang plant (2024); the fatal SU7 crash, the ADAS recall and the door-handle crash (2025–26); the YU7 and phase 2 capacity (2025); profit, then loss, and the 550,000 target (2025–26)
8 strategic moves analysed
Each one gets a full strategy file in the companion: context, the decision, the financing, what happened, and the lesson.
2010
Founding and the Contract Manufacturing Model
Founding / make-vs-buy (outsourced assembly)
2018
Hong Kong IPO and Weighted Voting Rights
Spin-off or IPO / financing
2019
Beijing Smartphone Smart Factories
Production-system change (automation, new process) / make-vs-buy (partial insourcing)
2021
EV Entry and the Ten Year Commitment
Strategy pivot / technology bet / new plant decision
2024
SU7 Launch and the Yizhuang Plant
New plant or line (greenfield) / product or platform launch
2025
SU7 Fatal Crash and the Assisted Driving Recall
Quality failure, recall or safety incident / regulatory action
2025
YU7 Launch and Phase 2 Capacity
Product or platform launch / new plant or line (expansion)
2026
EV Profit Then Loss and the 550000 Target
Pricing or capacity change (setback) / strategy (volume target)