China’s Xiaomi is planning a next-gen phone chip, but won’t release one yearly like Apple

By Arjun Kharpal for CNBC – Key points: Xiaomi launched the high-end XRing 01 chip last year and committed to invest at least 50 billion yuan ($7 billion) over the next 10 years to develop its own mobile semiconductors – Xiaomi is “planning ahead” for its next generation of smartphone chip, a top exec at the company told CNBC. – Xu Fei, vice president at Xiaomi, said the company won’t release a new system-on-chip every year like Apple does.

Chinese technology giant Xiaomi is planning a new high-end chip for its smartphones, a top executive at the company told CNBC, but won’t release one on a yearly basis like rival Apple..

Xu Fei, the vice president of Xiaomi, discussed the firm’s semiconductor ambitions, giving details about its roadmap for the product.

Xiaomi’s focus on developing its own chips mirrors efforts by top smartphone makers like Apple, Samsung and Huawei, as the Beijing-headquartered firm looks to expand its share globally, particularly at the more expensive end of the market.

Last year, Xiaomi launched a system-on-chip called the XRing 01 for its own smartphones. It is based on a 3 nanometer manufacturing process, one of the most advanced on the market. A system-on-chip, or SoC, is a type of semiconductor that contains different components that help run a device.

Xiaomi at the time committed to invest at least 50 billion yuan ($7 billion) over the next 10 years to develop its own chips.

Xu said that the company was “planning ahead” for its next generation of chip, but said she can’t promise it will release a new SoC each year.

“We are a a newcomer here, we need to learn and we need to plan,” Xu said.

Apple first launched its own system-on-chips in 2010 under the A series moniker. It has released a new A series semiconductor each year, with the latest one, called the A19, featured in the iPhone 17 models.

Xu revealed the thinking behind Xiaomi’s release timeline and how it relates to the company’s return on investment. There will be 1 million units of the XRing 01 shipped, Xu said, but Xiaomi will need to produce 10 million units per chip release for it to be a breakeven part of the business.

“So for us, we know we probably need to have ten years patience for the SoC to finally break even,” Xu told CNBC. “So at the first time, we just need to make sure the experience is good enough, the performance is good enough.”… Full article

Source: www.cnbc.com