Xiaomi is clear: It will bring devices with XRING chips and its AI assistant outside of China

Chinese smartphone manufacturers have long strived for independence from American chip suppliers. Most of them, however, have encountered the harsh reality of developing their own processors. But Xiaomi showed last year that it’s possible – and now it has even greater ambitions. At MWC 2026 in Barcelona, company president Lu Weibing confirmed to CNBC that the company plans to introduce new XRING chipsets every year and bring them to devices sold globally.

A new processor every year

Last year, Xiaomi introduced its first proprietary processor, the XRING O1, built on TSMC’s modern 3nm manufacturing process. The deca-core chipset with two Cortex-X925 cores clocked at 3.9 GHz surpassed the 3 million point mark in AnTuTu tests, thus matching or even surpassing competition from Qualcomm and Apple.

The processor debuted in the Xiaomi 15S Pro phone and the Xiaomi Pad 7 Ultra tablet, but both products remained exclusive to the Chinese market. However, that should change.

„This is our first chip product. In the future, we should probably release an annual upgrade,” Lu Weibing said on the sidelines of the Barcelona trade fair. He added that the new chip will appear in a device for the Chinese market this year and subsequently head abroad.

AI assistant heading to Europe

In China, Xiaomi products offer the Xiao AI assistant, which runs on its own artificial intelligence models. However, this is primarily focused on the Chinese market. Lu Weibing has now confirmed that the company is preparing an AI assistant for international markets.

The timing is interesting – the assistant will arrive together with Xiaomi electric vehicles, which are expected to enter the European market in 2027. „When our cars head to international markets, you will see our AI agents come with them,” explained Xiaomi’s president. For the international AI assistant, the company will likely collaborate with Google Gemini and combine it with its own models, he added.

Samsung has adopted a similar approach, integrating various AI models into its devices while also relying heavily on Google Gemini. Xiaomi aims to offer the AI assistant across smartphones and automobiles.

Billions in investment

Developing proprietary chips is not a cheap endeavor. Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun announced last year that the company would invest at least 50 billion yuan (approximately 160 billion CZK) in chip development over the next ten years. It’s a bet on the future that could elevate Xiaomi to the level of Apple or Samsung, companies that design their own processors.

Xiaomi is clear: It will bring devices with XRING chips and its AI assistant outside of China Adam Kurfürst News Adam Kurfürst News

For consumers, it’s important that greater competition in the mobile processor market usually leads to better products at more reasonable prices. Qualcomm and MediaTek will have to reckon with the fact that one of their biggest customers could gradually become a competitor.

Are you looking forward to Xiaomi products with proprietary processors?

Sources: CNBC, 9to5Google