China’s Xiaomi tells CNBC it’s planning a yearly smartphone chip release and its own AI assistant for overseas

BARCELONA — Xiaomi plans to launch a new smartphone processor chip every year, the company’s President Lu Weibing told CNBC, underscoring the company’s ambition to expand into more sophisticated areas of technology.

In a wide-ranging interview on Tuesday, Lu also said that Xiaomi is gearing up to launch its own AI assistant for overseas markets.

Last year, Xiaomi launched the XRing O1, a system-on-chip (SoC) based on an advanced 3 nanometer manufacturing process. Few smartphone makers design their own SoCs, which power the devices they are built into.

Apple has the A series of chips, while Samsung has the Exynos brand. Other smartphone makers rely on SoCs from companies like Qualcomm and MediaTek.

“This is our first chip product. Going forward, we should most likely release a yearly upgrade,” Lu told CNBC on the sidelines at the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona.

A yearly upgrade to the SoC is a big undertaking that keeps pace with Apple, which has typically released a new A chip yearly. Lu said that the chip will debut in a device that will be launched this year in China, and will eventually feature in the phones the company sells overseas.

Lu’s comments differ from Xiaomi Vice President Xu Fei’s words in September, when he told CNBC that the company couldn’t promise to release a new one each year.

A custom SoC would allow Xiaomi to tightly integrate its hardware with its software to differentiate from competitors’ products. Xiaomi has developed its own mobile operating system based on Android called HyperOS.

In China, Xiaomi’s devices have an AI assistant called Xiao AI, built on AI models developed in-house.

Xiao AI is primarily focused on Xiaomi’s products in China. But Lu told CNBC the company is preparing to release an AI assistant for international markets as it launches its EVs overseas, which the company has previously said would be in 2027 in Europe.

“When our cars go to the international markets, you will see our AI agents come along with it,” Lu said.

Xiaomi will likely look to partner with Google to use its Gemini models for its overseas AI assistant as well as its own, Lu said.

Other smartphone makers have taken a similar approach. Samsung is integrating different AI models and offerings into its devices while relying heavily on Google Gemini.

Xiaomi is aiming to have its AI assistant across smartphones and cars, Lu said.

Last year, Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun said the company would invest at least 50 billion yuan ($6.9 billion) over the next 10 years in its own chip development.

The Beijing-headquartered firm plans to combine its XRing O1 chip, HyperOS operating system and AI assistant into one device for the first time this year, Lu said.

“It will be in China markets first, but ultimately, we would want to introduce them to overseas markets,” he added.