Xiaomi's numbers in 2025 mark a historic turning point. For the first time, its core smartphone and IoT business represented less than 77% of revenues, overshadowed by 224% growth in electric vehicles and artificial intelligence. With revenues exceeding 450 billion yuan and record profits, the company has achieved its first operating profit in the new segment. This milestone is not accidental, but the result of a deliberate strategic transition from a competitive pricing model to an aggressive bet on the premium market and future technologies, mainly AI. 📈
The distorting effect of AI on the value chain ⚖️
Xiaomi's transformation exemplifies the dual impact of AI on technology corporations. On one hand, it acts as an engine for new businesses, funding developments like the MiMo language model and proprietary chips with electric vehicle profits. On the other, it distorts its traditional markets. The paradox is clear: the same AI demand driving its future is strangling the profitability of its past. The memory price crisis, driven by AI data centers, has reduced margins in its smartphone division. This phenomenon shows how massive investment in artificial intelligence creates new business lines while completely redefining the economics of existing ones.
Corporate rebranding in the artificial intelligence era 🚀
Beyond finances, this transition is a radical rebranding. Xiaomi abandons its image as China's Samsung to aspire to be an Apple with a car. A brand's public perception is no longer built solely on design or price, but on its ability to integrate AI into a coherent ecosystem. The commitment of billions for 2026 confirms that the bet is total. The Xiaomi case illustrates that in digital society, a company's value will be measured by its sovereignty in artificial intelligence, transforming its essence and its position in the global ecosystem.
Can the reinvention of a tech giant like Xiaomi, pivoting from the price war to AI, redefine the social contract between artificial intelligence and user privacy in the IoT ecosystem?
(P.S.: tech nicknames are like children: you name them, but the community decides what to call them)