The arrival of Xring 01 is a message from Xiaomi that it is fully prepared and equipped to design and manufacture personalized chipsets, guaranteeing a new step by becoming the first Chinese company to successfully market a 3NM SOC. Although the launch of the new silicon indicates that the company is ready to show farewell to its partners Qualcomm and Mediatek, a new estimate reveals that it can take several years before Xiaomi is completely self -sufficient to make its own chipsets. For the moment, around 40% of the company’s smartphones have parts from the aforementioned names.
Rely on Qualcomm and Mediatek for future chipsets could always be a necessity, since the United States has not expressed its concern for Xiaomi XIMA 01
Currently, the XRING 01 feeds the Xiaomi 15S Pro and the Xiaomi Pad 7 Ultra, and it is not mentioned whether the personalized SoC will head to other devices. The company has not mentioned the number of units it intends to manufacture, but using the second generation 3NM process of TSMC, also known as the “ N3e ”, is an expensive decision, without forgetting that the band process has probably accumulated an act of millions for Xiaomi.
In the long term, it is cheaper to make your own chipsets rather than supplying Qualcomm or Mediatek, but in the early stages, where a ton of trials and errors is involved, there is no doubt that Xiaomi of billions’ investment was absolutely crucial. However, the company has barely scratched the surface, and until it has managed to adopt its internal silicon for at least a few generations, we doubt that the partnership with Qualcomm and Mediatek evaporates.
In fact, CNBC reports that, according to the counterpoint research partner, Niel Shah, 40% of Xiaomi smartphones continue to present Qualcomm and Mediatek chipsets. These two could be included in the Xiaomi supply chain a little longer due to potential American export controls that are looming on the head of the company as the sword of Damocles. The Xring 01 represents not only a victory for Xiaomi but also for China, and taking advantage of the advanced Lithography of TSMC will probably not go unnoticed by the Trump administration.
TSMC may be prevented from doing business with Xiaomi for fear that the latter’s technology can be distributed to other Chinese companies and give them an advantage in the technological race. The problem is that the global landscape is too unpredictable to make such hypotheses, so we have to see what spell is waiting for Xiaomi in the future.
Source of news: CNBC
