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(Bloomberg) -- Xiaomi Corp.’s billionaire founder outlined plans for its first SUV and top-end gadgets with self-developed mobile chips, showcasing ambitions to expand its technology portfolio and move past a much-publicized accident that cast doubt on its expertise.
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Lei Jun, who shot to fame with bold plans to unseat Apple Inc. in China, gave online viewers a sneak peek at an electric sport utility vehicle — the YU7 — in a livestreamed event from Beijing. The 5-meter long vehicle’s top model can go 760 kilometers on a single charge and hit 100 km/h in 3.23 seconds, faster than Tesla Inc.’s Model Y or a comparable Porsche, Lei claimed. Apart from cars, the chief executive also showed off the Xring O1 chip, designed to power a new generation of devices including the Tablet 7 Ultra. At 3nm, that processor is aimed at matching Apple and Qualcomm Inc. chips.
Xiaomi is keen to push deeper into arenas beyond the affordable smartphones and appliances it’s best known for. Lei announced plans Thursday to invest 200 billion yuan ($28 billion) in research and development over the next five years. Scheduled to coincide with the company’s 15th anniversary, the EV-focused event underscored Lei’s intent to restore Xiaomi’s brand luster after a fatal March accident involving one of its signature SU7 sedans sent orders plunging the following month.
Xiaomi had raised its 2025 delivery target for electric vehicles to 350,000 units days before that incident, which prompted scrutiny over its self-driving advertising claims. That in turn stoked concerns that the YU7 would be delayed.
“Today’s Xiaomi of course has its flaws, its imperfections,” Lei said at the gala’s close. “I promise everyone, we’ll manage even greater achievements in the next five years,” said the entrepreneur, who often hosts product launches.
Lei admitted that the Xring lags Apple’s own chipset in some respects such as processor speed, but he stressed the chip was an achievement for his fledgling design team.
Still, his most important project is EVs — a $10 billion attempt to take on Tesla and BYD Co. that the founder has called his final endeavor as an entrepreneur.
The market for SUVs was more intense than that for sedans, Lei wrote in a social media post, but he believed the YU7 harbored its own unique qualities. It won’t officially hit the market until at least July, with no pricing released at the Thursday event. Xiaomi won’t take pre-orders for the vehicle yet, Lei wrote in a separate post.