According to a new report today, Xiaomi is working on its own in-house developed chipset. This move aims to reduce dependence on Qualcomm and MediaTek.
Mass production of the chip will apparently begin next year and the first phones powered by it will also be launched in 2025.
Chinese officials have repeatedly asked local companies to reduce their dependence on foreign technology as much as possible, and Xiaomi appears to have received the message loud and clear. Of course, it remains to be seen how the chip will be positioned and in which part of the market it will be used. And of course how well it will perform compared to competing offerings from Qualcomm and MediaTek.
Unfortunately, this report doesn’t tell us anything about that, so we’ll have to wait until more details are revealed, either officially or through more rumors. Xiaomi plans to invest about CNY30 billion ($4.1 billion) in R&D in 2025, up from CNY24 billion ($3.3 billion) this year. The new chip will undoubtedly eat some of that.