On May 19, 2025, Lei Jun, the founder, Chairman and CEO of Xiaomi, made a major announcement via Weibo that Xiaomi officially launched a brand-new chip – Xuanjie O1. The release of this news not only marks a significant breakthrough for Xiaomi in the field of chip research and development but also demonstrates its firm determination on the track of hardcore technology.

Looking back on Xiaomi’s chip research and development journey, as early as September 2014, the Pinecone project was initiated, kicking off Xiaomi’s chip R&D adventure. In 2017, Xiaomi’s first mobile phone chip, “Pinecone S1”, made its debut, positioning itself in the mid-to-high-end market. However, during subsequent development, due to various factors, Xiaomi suspended the research and development of large SoC chips. Instead, it retained the spark of R&D and explored the “small chip” route, successively launching various types of chips such as fast charging chips and battery management chips, and accumulating rich technical experience.

With the advancement of the company’s development strategy, in early 2021, Xiaomi made two important decisions: while announcing its entry into the automotive manufacturing business, it also restarted the “large chip” business. Xiaomi deeply understands that chips are a peak that must be climbed to become a great hardcore technology company. When the Xuanjie project was initiated, high goals were set: adopting the latest process technology, having a flagship-level transistor scale, and achieving first-tier performance and energy efficiency. To ensure the progress of the project, Xiaomi formulated a long-term investment plan, planning to invest at least 50 billion yuan over a period of ten years. As of the end of April this year, the cumulative R&D investment in the Xuanjie project has exceeded 13.5 billion yuan, and the size of the R&D team has exceeded 2,500 people. The expected R&D investment this year will exceed 6 billion yuan. Such R&D investment and team size rank among the top three in the domestic semiconductor design field.

The newly launched Xuanjie O1 chip adopts the second-generation 3nm process technology and is committed to bringing users a first-tier flagship experience. Although Xiaomi’s chips have a history of 11 years, in the face of the deep accumulation of other companies in the chip field within the industry, Xiaomi still maintains a humble attitude and regards this as a new starting point. Lei Jun said that chips are the underlying core track for Xiaomi to break through hardcore technology, and Xiaomi will go all out. He also hopes to gain more time and patience from the vast number of users to support its continuous exploration on the chip research and development path.

The release of Xiaomi’s Xuanjie O1 chip is not only an important milestone in the company’s own development but also injects new vitality into the development of the domestic chip industry. It is expected to drive the further development of the industry, and its future performance in the market is worth looking forward to.