The much-awaited YU7 electric sports utility vehicle, along with other items like a mobile chip the business has developed, will be unveiled by China’s Xiaomi, the company announced.
In China, the largest auto market in the world, analysts have hailed the YU7 as a rival to Tesla’s best-selling Model Y. However, Xiaomi let fans down last month by failing to display the vehicle at the Shanghai auto show.
The CEO and founder of Xiaomi, Lei Jun, announced on his Weibo account that the YU7 will be unveiled during the event along with other items, including the new Xiaomi 15S Pro smartphone and the Xring O1 mobile processor.
After selling smartphones, home appliances, and smart devices for most of its 15-year history, Xiaomi started producing EVs last year with the introduction of the SU7 sedan. Monthly sales of the SU7 sedan have surpassed those of the Model 3 since December.
The company’s orders for its SU7 sedan have decreased after a deadly accident involving an SU7 in March, although analysts say it is still outselling.
In addition to the competition between EVs, China’s smartphone market has become more competitive as rivals like Apple and Huawei employ their own specially made CPUs to improve user experience and build closely linked ecosystems.
Lei said in a different Weibo post that Xiaomi had dedicated 13.5 billion yuan ($1.87 billion) to the in-house development of its cutting-edge mobile processor, the Xring O1, and that it intended to invest a further 50 billion yuan in chip design over a minimum of ten years.
The 50 billion yuan investment timetable begins in 2025, as said by a Xiaomi representative.
The 28-nm Pengpai S1, Xiaomi’s first mobile CPU, was introduced in 2017 and made its debut in the Xiaomi 5C smartphone. Xiaomi started designing chips in 2014.
Later, due to “various setbacks“, the company refocused on less sophisticated semiconductors, such as picture chips and battery management chips, Lei said. However, in 2021, the year it made the decision to begin manufacturing automobiles, it also made the decision to resume semiconductor development for mobile phones.
“Xiaomi has always had a chip dream because, in order to become a great hard technology company, chips are a peak that must be climbed,” he stated. “We will definitely go all out.”
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