R&D Investment

Gree Electric faces investor scrutiny over its chip business, despite significant R&D spending. Concerns arose from comparing Gree’s chip subsidiary’s small registered workforce to industry peers. Gree responded, stating its chip team nears 1,000 employees and clarified previous data discrepancies. Gree entered the chip domain in 2015, focusing on MCUs, smart home chips, power devices, and silicon carbide wafer manufacturing. Chairwoman Dong Mingzhu defended the company’s chip venture as a strategic move towards self-reliance and potentially providing semiconductor solutions to others.

Lenovo Group reported strong fiscal year results with annual revenue rising 21.5% YoY to RMB 498.5 billion ($68.7 billion), its second-highest on record. Non-PC businesses now make up 47% of total revenue, up 5% points, with all regions achieving double-digit growth. R&D investment grew 13%, with R&D staff comprising 27.8% of its workforce. CEO Yang Yuanqing highlighted strategic focuses on hybrid AI infrastructure, in-house semiconductor development (including a 5nm chip prototype), and operational efficiency through vertical integration. The company emphasized long-term growth driven by innovation, supply chain control, and market analytics, rather than short-term gains.

Xiaomi’s investment partner Pan Jiutang dismissed online “conspiracy theories” targeting its chip subsidiary Xuanjie, defending the company’s transparency and $1.9 billion semiconductor R&D investment since 2021. Following CEO Lei Jun’s 2021 dual strategy to enter EVs and revive chip development, Xuanjie has expanded its engineering team to 2,500, with 2024 R&D spending projected at $827 million. Pan emphasized this positions Xiaomi among China’s top semiconductor designers. The company also unveiled its Xuanjie O1 chip, a 3nm-process SoC claiming flagship performance to rival Qualcomm and MediaTek, while urging public support against “baseless” criticism.

Xiaomi founder Lei Jun highlighted the company’s renewed semiconductor focus ahead of its May 22 chip announcement, revealing that investment in the “Xuanjie” project exceeded $13.5 billion since 2021, supporting both smartphone SoC revival and specialized component development. With a team of 2,500 engineers, Xiaomi now ranks as China’s third-largest fabless semiconductor entity. Analysts view this dual-track strategy as critical preparation for AI-driven device differentiation, echoing MediaTek’s successful SoC resurgence during the mobile era.