China's Xiaomi Corp. bypassed the phone maker and bought self-driving technology startup Deepmotion for about $77.4 million, in a deal that will help it advance its ambitions to enter a rapidly expanding field.
According to Arab Net, the company revealed the acquisition after reporting better-than-expected results for the second quarter, when recovery in key markets such as India helped it overtake Apple, Thus, it became the second largest smartphone company in the world in terms of shipments.
Xiaomi's revenue rose 64% to 87.79 billion yuan ($13.6 billion) in the quarter ending June, topping the average estimate of 85.01 billion yuan.
Co-founder and CEO Lei Jun is now spearheading a campaign to move Xiaomi beyond smartphones, with the 51-year-old personally leading an electric car project, which she has pledged. The company will make an initial investment of $10 billion over the next decade.
Lei Jun said the company has enough cash to fund this project, which requires years of extensive investment in development and manufacturing before the first car is sold.
The acquisition of four-year-old driver assistance software company Deepmotion is the latest in a series of moves Xiaomi is making to delve deeper into the field. crowded with competitors A number of tech giants from Huawei Technologies Co. to Baidu Inc. have already spent years developing components and autonomous technologies.
The deal aims to help Xiaomi develop Level 4 autonomous driving technology, which enables fully autonomous driving.
Having first gained fame as a maker of low-cost phones sold via e-commerce channels in China, Xiaomi is trying to repair its image with sleek designs and more advanced tools. The 11-year-old company this month unveiled a phone featuring the latest Qualcomm Inc processors and a front camera hidden under the screen, designed to rival Apple's iPhones in the luxury market.
