Xiaomi will Launch the YU7 EV on Thursday

This Thursday, China’s Xiaomi is scheduled to introduce a number of new goods, including an in-house-developed mobile processor, along with its much awaited YU7 electric SUV.

In China, the biggest car market in the world, analysts have hailed the YU7 as a rival to Tesla’s best-selling Model Y.

YU7 Electric SUV Launch

The CEO and creator of Xiaomi, Lei Jun, stated on his Weibo account Monday that the YU7 will be unveiled during the event along with other items including the new Xiaomi 15S Pro smartphone and the Xring O1 mobile processor.

Xiaomi, which has spent the most of its 15-year history selling smartphones, home appliances, and smart devices, started producing EVs last year with the introduction of the SU7 sedan. The SU7 sedan has been selling more units per month than Tesla’s Model 3 since December.

In addition to EV competition, China’s smartphone market has become more competitive as rivals like Apple (AAPL.O) and Huawei (HWT.UL) launch new tablets and employ their own proprietary CPUs to improve user experience and build closely integrated ecosystems.

Explained that Lei, Xiaomi has already committed 13.5 billion yuan ($1.87 billion) on the self-development of its cutting-edge mobile chip, the Xring O1, and it intends to invest a further 50 billion yuan in chip design over a minimum of ten years.

The 50 billion yuan investment timetable begins in 2025, a Xiaomi representative told Reuters.

The 28-nm Pengpai S1, Xiaomi’s first mobile CPU, was introduced in 2017 and made its debut in the Xiaomi 5C smartphone. Xiaomi started designing chips in 2014.

After “various setbacks,” the company later refocused on less sophisticated semiconductors, such as image processors and battery management chips, explained that Lei. But in 2021, the year it made the decision to begin producing automobiles, it also made the decision to resume semiconductor development for mobile phones.