NextFin News - Xiaomi is betting its future on the "era of agents," committing at least 60 billion yuan (7.5 billion euros) to artificial intelligence over the next three years. The announcement, delivered by founder Lei Jun during the launch of an upgraded SU7 electric sedan in Beijing on Thursday, marks a definitive pivot for the company from a hardware-centric "smartphone x AIoT" strategy to one where AI is the primary engine of growth. The investment represents a significant escalation in spending, with Lei revealing that the group’s AI research budget for 2026 has already surpassed its initial 16 billion yuan target.
The timing of the capital injection is as much about survival as it is about expansion. In the Chinese market, the cost of basic AI services has plummeted following a brutal price war triggered by startups like DeepSeek. By pivoting toward "AI agents"—autonomous systems capable of executing complex tasks like booking travel or managing household energy consumption—Xiaomi is seeking higher-margin revenue streams that simple chatbots can no longer provide. The effort is being led by Luo Fuli, a former DeepSeek researcher who now oversees a specialized team with an average age of just 25, signaling a generational shift in the company’s R&D focus.
Xiaomi’s advantage lies in its massive, interconnected ecosystem. Unlike pure-play software firms, the Beijing-based giant can deploy its new MiMo-V2-Pro large language model across a physical fleet of millions of smartphones, home appliances, and now, electric vehicles. The recently unveiled MiClaw tool, which allows users to control this entire hardware stack through natural language, serves as the first practical application of this "agentic" vision. If successful, Xiaomi will have transformed from a vendor of discrete gadgets into the provider of a unified, AI-managed lifestyle.
However, the financial burden of this ambition is substantial. The 7.5 billion euro commitment comes at a time when the global tech industry is grappling with the diminishing returns of massive model training. While Xiaomi’s stock surged on the news, the company must now prove it can monetize these AI agents effectively enough to offset the soaring costs of compute and talent. By positioning itself as a leader in agentic workflows, Xiaomi is effectively racing against Alibaba and Tencent to define the next interface of the internet, moving beyond the screen and into the fabric of daily life.
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