The report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China stressed that the focus of economic development should be on the real economy, and the Central Economic Work Conference called for accelerating the construction of a modern industrial system. In the process of real economy development, how to build a safe and stable industrial chain supply chain? How to promote high-end, intelligent and green manufacturing? The reporter of Economic Daily recently interviewed Lei Jun, the founder, chairman and CEO of Xiaomi Group.
Reporter: The Central Economic Work Conference called for accelerating the construction of a modern industrial system, and proposed to focus on the key industrial chains of the manufacturing industry, identify key core technologies and weak links in parts, and concentrate high-quality resources to jointly tackle key problems. How does Xiaomi know this?
Lei Jun: At present, the global industrial chain pattern is being reshaped at an accelerated pace. We should clearly see the complexity of challenges, effectively enhance resilience, and also see new opportunities in the future. We should bravely grasp a new round of technological and industrial change cycle. The key point is that scientific and technological innovation has become the core driving force for the high-quality development of Chinese enterprises. We should focus on honest innovation and rely on our own efforts to "fight" hard core technology. At the same time, we should also take the responsibility of "one company prospers and one hundred companies become strong", and actively explore new models and new paths of industrial empowerment.
The profound technology accumulation and R&D investment have become the key support for Xiaomi's high-end breakthrough and striving to become a world-class enterprise. By the end of September last year, Xiaomi had more than 29000 global patent authorizations and more than 59000 global patent applications. Xiaomi's three-year high-end exploration has also delivered a satisfactory answer. We have achieved "one machine with two self-developed cores" on the flagship machine, and achieved many important breakthroughs in a series of key areas such as mobile image technology, charging, and screen, which has boosted the overall rise of domestic high-end products. In the new journey of hard core technology breakthrough, there is no shortcut, only practical work.
In terms of industrial empowerment, Xiaomi has invested in 110 intelligent equipment enterprises, driven more than 100 upstream and downstream products and technology suppliers, and initially formed an ecological cluster of domestic manufacturing equipment supply. At the same time, relying on the demonstration and driving effect of Xiaomi's intelligent factory, a number of supply chain partners have launched Xiaomi's complete set of production line equipment and intelligent manufacturing solutions. Xiaomi's new path of full link industrial empowerment is getting wider and wider.
Reporter: The report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposed to promote new industrialization and accelerate the construction of a manufacturing power. What exploration and experience does Xiaomi Group have in promoting high-end, intelligent and green manufacturing? What's the new layout in the future?
Lei Jun: In the process of promoting the transformation and upgrading of the manufacturing industry to high-end, intelligent and green, Xiaomi gradually found out some experience for reference. One of my deepest feelings is that I should first set a good benchmark and make good samples, then empower the industry and seek new breakthroughs in the innovation of the whole link industrial chain. At the end of last year, we released the three-year answer sheet of the high-end strategy - Xiaomi 13 series. As the flagship of the new generation of high-end Xiaomi, its high-precision assembly took the lead in the landing experiment in Xiaomi intelligent factory, with an accuracy of 0.09 mm, that is, the diameter of a hair, which doubled the assembly accuracy of some core components of Xiaomi 13. At the same time, Xiaomi 13 is equipped with the only ultra narrow four sided process in China, which is also polished and shaped in an intelligent factory, and eventually promoted to all production lines. The method of verification before promotion has greatly improved the high-end and intelligent level of supply chain cooperation enterprises, and also strengthened Xiaomi's confidence and determination to be an intelligent solution and equipment service provider behind the manufacturing industry.
Xiaomi is also exploring a new path and new mode of full link industry empowerment, bravely challenging corporate responsibility, focusing on strengthening the chain supplement and overcoming key core technologies, so as to truly drive domestic supply chain enterprises to go global. Take the screen of Xiaomi 12 as an example. It was customized and developed from Xiaomi to TCL CSOT, creating 15 new screen records. At the same time, our intelligent manufacturing system is constantly outputting and empowering to the entire manufacturing industry. Some supply chain cooperation enterprises have launched a complete set of production line equipment and intelligent factory system outputted by Xiaomi. In addition, Xiaomi has also cooperated with upstream and downstream enterprises in the industrial chain, Tsinghua University and other colleges and universities to form a 3C intelligent manufacturing innovation consortium, aiming at the forefront of intelligent manufacturing technology, and laying out the industrial chain around the innovation chain, which has a significant demonstration effect.
Reporter: In recent years, the evolution of world changes has accelerated, and downward pressure on the economy has increased. Affected by the epidemic, where does Xiaomi Group's confidence come from?
Lei Jun: The Central Economic Work Conference took a firm and unambiguous attitude towards the implementation of the statement of "two unswerving", actively set the tone for the development of private economy, consolidated consensus, and created an environment, which conveyed the strongest voice to support the development of private economy, and we redoubled our confidence to move forward.
In 2023, we are full of confidence. This confidence comes from four aspects: the fundamentals of China's long-term economic growth, the most complete global manufacturing industry system we have accumulated over the past 40 years, continuous scientific and technological innovation is becoming the source of power for the transformation of new and old drivers, and the quality demand of Chinese consumers for a better life.
I believe that the essence of boosting consumer confidence in the eyes of entrepreneurs is that enterprises should create new supply and release new demand, and constantly provide value products and services that meet user needs based on their own efforts and bold work.
Reporter: The Central Economic Work Conference stressed that we should seize the new opportunities generated in the process of global industrial structure and layout adjustment, and have the courage to open up new fields and win new tracks. What are the new plans of Xiaomi Group?
Lei Jun: For Xiaomi, 2023 is the year to start a new development cycle. We will steadily advance and prepare for a new round of outbreaks in the next 2-3 years.
We will firmly build Xiaomi, which is led by science and technology, firmly invest in the future, and take innovation as the first driving force for high-quality development. This year, the R&D investment of Xiaomi will exceed 20 billion yuan, and in the five years from 2022 to 2026, the R&D investment will exceed 100 billion yuan. We will unswervingly adhere to the "technology-based" iron rule, focus on breakthroughs in key technology fields such as self-developed chips, artificial intelligence, imaging, fast charging, and the Internet of Things, accelerate the exploration of cutting-edge technology fields such as autonomous driving, bionic robots, and strive to build a global leading edge in a new round of industrial transformation cycle.
We will firmly build Xiaomi, which is empowered by the whole link industry, continue to deepen intelligent manufacturing, and enable China's manufacturing industry to transform and upgrade to high-end, intelligent, and green. At present, Xiaomi's Phase II smart factory in Beijing is stepping up its construction. It is expected to be put into operation by the end of the year, and will be built into a world-class smart factory that meets the standard of "lighthouse factory". At the same time, the business progress of Xiaomi Smart Electric Vehicle exceeded expectations, and the first vehicle will be offline and mass produced in 2024. (Economic Daily reporter Huang Xin)
