Is Xiaomi a Chinese Brand?

Every “is X Chinese?” question we’ve worked through so far — POCO, Redmi, Motorola’s smartphone arm — eventually traces back to a single Beijing address. Xiaomi is the source itself. It’s the parent company sitting above POCO and Redmi, one of the world’s genuinely largest technology firms, and its answer carries no ambiguity whatsoever.

The Short Answer

Yes, Xiaomi is unambiguously and entirely a Chinese company — founded in Beijing in 2010 by Lei Jun, still headquartered there today, and controlled by Lei Jun himself as the company’s largest shareholder.

• Xiaomi launched its IPO on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in August 2018 and has remained publicly traded ever since.
• Despite public trading, co-founder, chairman, and CEO Lei Jun remains the controlling shareholder, with the board including three of the company’s original co-founders as of mid-2026.
• As of 2026, Xiaomi is the world’s third-largest smartphone vendor, holding roughly 12% global market share, trailing only Apple and Samsung.

Why This Question Even Comes Up

• Xiaomi’s genuinely massive footprint in India — manufacturing, retail stores, service centers — leads many Indian consumers to reasonably wonder whether it’s become a genuinely local or dual-national company.
• Some confusion also stems from Xiaomi’s frequent rivalry comparisons against Korean giants like Samsung and LG, occasionally leading people to mistakenly assume Xiaomi itself is Korean rather than Chinese.
• The honest answer clears both misconceptions: Xiaomi’s roots and operations remain distinctly Chinese, regardless of how deep its manufacturing and retail presence runs in India specifically.

Xiaomi’s Family of Brands: Redmi and POCO

• Redmi began in 2013 as Xiaomi’s budget phone line, created specifically to push aggressively priced devices with strong specs into emerging markets like India.
• In 2019, Xiaomi formally made Redmi its own sub-brand under the Xiaomi Group umbrella — a restructuring done primarily to clarify product positioning rather than to create genuine separate ownership.
• Lei Jun publicly confirmed Redmi’s status as a Xiaomi sub-brand at the time, explicitly stating that “independent” in this context referred to market segmentation and brand identity, not separate corporate control.
• POCO, similarly, remains a Xiaomi sub-brand running on the same HyperOS software platform used across all Xiaomi-family devices.
• All three brands — Xiaomi, Redmi, and POCO — sit under the exact same corporate roof in Beijing, even though they target different customer segments and price bands in the market.

Where Xiaomi Products Are Actually Made

• Every Xiaomi, Redmi, and POCO phone sold in India is assembled locally, reflecting one of the largest local supply chains any Chinese brand has built in the country.
• Xiaomi entered India back in 2014 and has since invested heavily in domestic manufacturing partnerships.
• Despite this genuine local assembly, the parent company remains headquartered in China, and several internal components continue coming from Chinese and other international suppliers.
• This split between brand nationality and manufacturing location isn’t unique to Xiaomi — it mirrors a strategy used by many global electronics OEMs operating regional assembly lines under a single foreign headquarters and ownership structure.

Xiaomi’s Broader Business Beyond Phones

• Xiaomi has expanded well beyond smartphones into a genuinely broad ecosystem spanning mobile applications, wearables, televisions, and smart home devices.
• In September 2021, Xiaomi founded Xiaomi Auto, its electric vehicle subsidiary, which produced over 411,000 vehicles in 2025 and carries a market capitalization of approximately US$135.2 billion.
• The company has committed 30 billion yuan (roughly US$4.1 billion) toward R&D in 2025 alone, focused specifically on AI, operating systems, and chip development.
• Xiaomi notably retired the “Mi” branding from future products starting September 2021, consolidating its identity more directly under the core Xiaomi name.

Who Actually Owns Xiaomi Today

• Beyond founder Lei Jun’s controlling stake, several large US mutual funds and ETFs hold significant shares of Xiaomi as a publicly traded company.
• Top institutional holders include funds managed by Vanguard and BlackRock, reflecting genuine international investor interest in the Chinese tech giant despite its firmly Chinese operational base.
• This mix of founder control alongside broad international institutional investment is a common structure among major Chinese tech companies listed on international exchanges.

The Bottom Line

Xiaomi is genuinely and entirely a Chinese company — founded in Beijing in 2010 by Lei Jun, who remains its controlling shareholder today, with headquarters, core engineering, and strategic direction all firmly based in China despite the company’s publicly traded status on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. While Xiaomi has built one of the deepest local manufacturing and retail presences of any foreign brand operating in India, promoting genuine “Made in India” assembly across its Redmi, POCO, and flagship Xiaomi product lines, this substantial local investment doesn’t change the fundamental reality that the brand’s ownership, intellectual property, and strategic control remain entirely rooted in China.

FAQs

Q1. Is it accurate to call Xiaomi an Indian company because so much manufacturing happens there?

No, manufacturing location doesn’t determine corporate nationality — Xiaomi remains fully Chinese-owned and headquartered despite its substantial India-based production.

Q2. Does Xiaomi’s Hong Kong Stock Exchange listing make it less Chinese?

No, the listing simply provides public market access for investors; ownership and headquarters control remain firmly with Xiaomi’s Beijing-based leadership.

Q3. Why did Xiaomi retire its “Mi” branding in 2021?

The company consolidated its product naming strategy to build a more unified brand identity directly under the core Xiaomi name.

Q4. Are Xiaomi’s electric vehicles sold in India yet?

As of current reporting, Xiaomi Auto’s electric vehicles are focused on the Chinese domestic market, with no confirmed India launch timeline.