China’s Xiaomi in talks with US, European carriers in global push
Xiaomi, with plans for an initial public listing later this year, is eyeing more markets for expansion after winning the sales crown in India.
Xiaomi, at times referred to as “China’s Apple”, is stepping up its global expansion after winning the sales crown in India, a market that it took three years to conquer through a mix of flash sales and social media.
The Beijing-based company is expanding further into Western Europe and has worked with carriers in the US for about two years in preparation for an eventual entry. Xiaomi is now in 70 countries globally, including Spain, India, Russia, and Indonesia, besides its home market of China.
In Europe, Vodafone, the biggest carrier in the region, has sought it out for cooperation, said Wang Xiang, Xiaomi’s senior vice-president in charge of the company’s global expansion. For the US, Xiaomi may launch a smartphone model especially tailored to the market, because it is “so important that we don’t want to randomly sell products there”, he said in an interview in Shanghai. The company is in talks with major carriers in the US and Wang said he’s “met all of their executives.”
Projecting a more international image would help Xiaomi attract more global investors for a highly anticipated initial public offering (IPO) later this year. While its management does not comment on listing plans, the Beijing-based firm is said to have appointed investment banks to work on its proposed IPO in the Hong Kong stock exchange.
