The Chinese tech giant Xiaomi has announced that it is ready to enter the electric vehicle (EV) market with the registration of its automobile leg, Xiaomi Automobile Co. Ltd., now complete.
Xiaomi had announced in March that it was planning to enter the EV market, and reported earlier today that Xiaomi Automobile Co. Ltd. has been set up with registration capital of ¥10 billion ($1.5 billion). It added that the founder, Chairman, and CEO of the company Lei Jun will head the new entity.
GizmoChina reported that although the initial investment of the company is ¥10 billion, it will invest ¥60 billion ($9.28 billion) over a period of 10 years as the business grows.
Xiaomi has reportedly also been in talks with various car manufacturers like Great Wall Motors, BYD Auto Co. Ltd., Wuling, and SAIC for partnership, but nothing has come of them yet.
Moreover, Xiaomi is building a separate and specialized team for the project and disclosed in its statement today that it has inducted 300 personnel from more than 20,000 applicants so far and that the recruitment process is ongoing.