Lei Jun: Xiaomi Plans Over 200 Billion Yuan in Hard Tech

At the 2026 World Intelligent Connected Vehicles Conference, Xiaomi founder, chairman and CEO Lei Jun outlined the company’s hard-tech investment plans. He said Xiaomi has built the world’s largest consumer IoT platform, with more than 1.1 billion connected devices globally by the end of the second quarter.

To improve the experience across its ecosystem, Xiaomi has continued to increase R&D investment in foundational hard-core technologies, including chips, operating systems and embodied AI. Over the past five years, the company invested 105.5 billion yuan in such research and development. The company said the spending is intended to improve user experiences across the ecosystem.

Lei Jun expects related investment to exceed 200 billion yuan over the next five years, according to Securities Times. The disclosure came at a major industry event focused on intelligent connected vehicles.

The figures underline the scale of Xiaomi’s R&D commitment as it seeks to strengthen its technology base and support a vast device ecosystem. The company’s IoT platform scale and planned spending are central to its long-term strategy in consumer and automotive technology. Xiaomi’s growing focus on foundational innovation reflects broader competition among technology firms to integrate hardware, software and AI across connected products and vehicles.