What you need to know
- An interview with Xiaomi’s president, Lu Weibing, and CNBC reveals plans to produce its in-house chip, the XRing, annually.
- Potential upgrades and features weren’t discussed, however, Xiaomi’s president says it’s thinking of integrating its chip in global releases, too.
- The XRing O1 debuted last year with a 10-core design to compete with other makers, as well as Arm’s v9.2 cores.
Xiaomi came through with its own custom chip last year; now reports say it’s not slowing down.
In a recent interview with CNBC, Xiaomi’s president, Lu Weibing, informed the publication that the company is looking to take its custom chip development seriously (via 9to5Google). While Xiaomi released its first-ever chip, the XRing O1 in 2025, Lu Weibing stated it’s now looking to “release a yearly upgrade.” The mentality around its custom chip seems to have changed, as CNBC highlights a previous statement by Xiaomi’s vice president, which claimed the company “couldn’t commit” to such an undertaking.
Android Central’s Take
The comments CNBC reports on from Xiaomi vice president are interesting—especially in contrast to the news today. Earlier reports claimed Xiaomi was investing billions in its ambitions to fuel its desires to make chips for its devices. Perhaps the company has found some wiggle room and the right way to go about this on a yearly cadence.
Now, Lu appeared confident in front of CNBC in stating consumers should expect yearly XRing chip upgrades for its devices. Moreover, they added the next-gen chip for 2026 will arrive in its phones during its Chinese release, and there are plans to implement it for its global launches, too.
The Xiaomi president states in their interview that its AI, Xiao AI, will seek “international markets.” Supposedly, the Chinese OEM plans to integrate its AI assistant on its phones during global launches and in vehicles.
All in on the XRing
There were two major occurrences for Xiaomi last year regarding its in-house chip: a report about a “chip platform department” and the XRing O1’s launch. For the former, some reports claimed Xiaomi “internally” notified its members about the creation of such a department. This was designed to facilitate and better manage the work behind its custom chip. Reports added that Xiaomi tapped Qin Muyun, who previously worked as Qualcomm’s senior director of product marketing, to take charge.
Android Central’s Take
When these reports were rumored, it gave me serious Samsung and Google vibes. Remember when Google moved to make its Tensor chips in-house? Or when Samsung committed to having people focus solely on improving its chips? It’s a similar move that other companies have done when taking their custom chip ideas seriously. This is a choice that’ll likely give them more control over what’s going into their phones, the power, the features, and more. We’ll have to wait and see what Xiaomi cooks up next.
Xiaomi also invested 30 billion yuan (~$4.1 billion) in 2025 for its chip ambitions. Jump ahead one month to May 2025, and we’re met with the debut of the XRing O1—Xiaomi’s chip. The product rocks Arm’s v9.2 cores and a 10-core design to try and strive for higher ground over its would-be rivals.
During its launch, there was speculation that Xiaomi would keep its XRing chips for its main market: China. However, seeing what Xiaomi’s current stance is now, it looks like it wants more people to experience what it’s been working on.
