Most Android phones run on chips from Qualcomm or MediaTek. Xiaomi wants to change that, at least for its own devices. At MWC 2026, Xiaomi President Lu Weibing told CNBC that the company plans to refresh its Xiaomi XRing chip every year. That puts it on an annual cadence similar to what Apple does with the A-series and Google does with Tensor.
The XRing O1 launched last year inside the Xiaomi 15S Pro and Xiaomi Pad 7 Ultra, both China-only devices. It’s built on TSMC’s 3nm process and holds its own against Snapdragon on raw performance benchmarks. According to Lu, the next chip will debut in a China-bound device later this year. From there, the plan is for it to eventually reach global markets too.
That last part is the bigger deal. The Xiaomi 17 series, which just launched globally at MWC, runs on Snapdragon. The Xiaomi XRing chip hasn’t left China yet. Lu’s comments suggest that’s a temporary situation, not a permanent one.
More Than Just a Chip Refresh
The yearly cadence isn’t the only thing Lu talked about. He also said Xiaomi plans to combine the XRing chip, HyperOS, and its own AI assistant into a single device for the first time this year. Right now, Xiaomi uses an AI assistant called Xiao Ai in China. An international version is coming, and according to Lu, it’ll roll out alongside Xiaomi’s EV expansion into overseas markets. Xiaomi EVs are reportedly targeting Europe around 2027.
Xiaomi’s CEO Lei Jun committed around 50 billion yuan (roughly $6.9 billion) to chip development over ten years back in 2025. That’s a serious undertaking for any company, especially one that’s also building cars and expanding globally. But if Xiaomi pulls it off, it joins a very short list of companies that design their own silicon at scale.
