)
Xiaomi Corp plans to sell its smartphones and smart-home products in Europe and other markets outside of China, signalling increasing competition for rivals such as Samsung Electronics Co and Huawei Technologies Co.
With Xiaomi rising last quarter to become the fifth-largest smartphone vendor in India, its first major market beyond its home market, the company should be able to replicate that success elsewhere, CEO Lei Jun said Monday at the CeBIT technology conference in Hanover, Germany.
"We are in a position to go on the international market with smartphones and smart-home products," Lei said. "In the future we will come to Germany, we will come to Europe and other regions in the world."
Lei founded Xiaomi in Beijing in 2010 and built the company into China's largest smartphone vendor and the world's most valuable start-up company, with a price tag of $45 billion. Xiaomi doubled revenue to $12 billion last year and more than tripled smartphone shipments to 61.1 million units. The company has forecast sales will rise to as much as $19 billion this year.
To push beyond phones into internet-ready smart-home products, Xiaomi will invest in 100 emerging technology companies, Lei said earlier this month. The deals will help the electronics company expand its range of products while continuing in-house development for key gear such as smartphones, tablets, routers, television and set-top boxes.
Smart-home products Xiaomi has unveiled include an air purifier, a home-security system and smart light bulbs. The market for Web-linked appliances will grow to $7.1 trillion by 2020, from $1.9 trillion in 2013, according to researcher International Data Corp.
