Xiaomi has expanded its business well beyond the limits of a smartphone brand. Apart from smartphones, the company has products in various categories, including laptop, power, smart home, lifestyle, wearable, among others.
The company also holds stakes in several other companies, including the likes of Huami which makes Amazfit smart wearable devices; Black Shark which makes premium gaming smartphones; Roborock which makes smart cleaning robots; among others.
Now, Xiaomi is expanding its presence in the chipset industry by becoming a shareholder of two chipset companies. As per the report from 36Kr, Xiaomi is investing in these two chip companies through its investment arm Hubei Xiaomi Yangtze River Industrial Fund.
It is being reported that Xiaomi took 1.38 percent stake in Shanghai-based ASR Microelectronics. And just a few days before that, the company had become the third-largest external shareholder of OnMicro Corporation with 6.98 percent stake.
Founded in 2015, ASR Microelectronics focuses on chips for a variety of consumer electronics uses, including mobile intelligent terminals, Internet of Things devices, and navigation. The biggest shareholder of the company is the eCommerce giant Alibaba, which holds about 21.75 percent stake.
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As for OnMicro Corporation, it is a developer and researcher of high-performance integrated circuit and peripheral products for various electronics. It specialises in developing RF integrated circuit chips and analog integrated circuit chips utilized in wireless communication, power management, and RF front-end modules.
The development hints that the company could have given up on its efforts to develop its own chipset for smartphones. Xiaomi has previously launched Surge S1 mobile processor but there has no follow up after that. Now, instead of developing its own, the company seems to have taken the route of strategic investments.
Prior to investment in these two companies, Xiaomi had last year made a strategic investment in VeriSilicon Holdings Co Ltd, acquiring roughly 6 percent stake and becoming the second-largest external shareholder of the company.
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