Xiaomi’s bet on electric cars and artificial intelligence is starting to pay off, with its smart EV and AI unit turning profitable just as group earnings hit a new high in the third quarter of 2025.
The unit that houses Xiaomi’s smart EV, AI and other new initiatives – built around the SU7 sedan and YU7 SUV – delivered revenue of 29 billion yuan (RM17bil) in the three months to Sept 30, up more than 199% year-on-year.
For the first time it generated a positive income from operations of 700 million yuan (RM410mil), a milestone the group is billing as the start of a more sustainable phase for its car push.
Smart EV deliveries hit 108,796 units in the quarter, taking year-to-date volumes to over 260,000 vehicles.
The YU7, marketed as a high-performance luxury SUV, has already topped sales in China’s mid-to-large SUV class for three straight months and went on to become the country’s best-selling SUV overall in October.
Those cars sit at the heart of Xiaomi’s “Human × Car × Home” strategy, which uses its HyperOS 3 operating system and AI tools to tie vehicles, phones and home devices into one connected ecosystem.
The company is backing that idea with record research spending: R&D outlay climbed 52.1% year-on-year in the quarter to 9.1 billion yuan, and Xiaomi now has 24,871 people working in R&D roles.
The financial payoff is becoming clearer.
Group revenue in the third quarter rose 22.3% to 113.1 billion yuan, marking a fourth straight quarter above the 100 billion yuan mark.
Adjusted net profit surged 80.9% to 11.3 billion yuan (RM6.6bil), beating market estimates and setting a new high.
Over the first nine months of 2025, revenue reached 340.4 billion yuan and adjusted net profit 32.8 billion yuan, already ahead of last year’s full-year figure.
Phones and gadgets still matter. Smartphone revenue stood at 46 billion yuan, with 43.3 million units shipped and a global share of 13.6%, keeping Xiaomi in the top three worldwide.
IoT and lifestyle products brought in 27.6 billion yuan, as connected devices on its AIoT platform passed one billion and global monthly active users across its Internet services grew to 741.7 million.
