Let the bullets fly for a while! Xiaomi Motors, investment and guidance

While it remains unclear where Xiaomi Auto will be located, Xiaomi, which has not given a specific response, has actually done a lot.

Ever since Lei Jun announced that he would "fight for Xiaomi Auto", matters related to Xiaomi Auto have always been a hot topic in the automotive industry, whether it is Lei Jun's visits to automakers, the recent "acquisition of Evergrande Auto shares", or the 500 million yuan acquisition of autonomous driving company Shenzhen Motion Technology.

But the strange thing is that despite all the speculations and rumors, even when some media were certain that Xiaomi Auto would settle in Beijing and build a factory, Xiaomi still sat on the Diaoyutai. If it really settled in Beijing, of course it would be great, but Xiaomi's "hunger operation" of not making an official announcement has also caused many people to silently go crazy.

However, although the "melon" of where Xiaomi Motors will be located has not yet fully matured, this does not mean that Xiaomi Motors has not made any moves. In other words, is Xiaomi Motors' progress really slow? I'm afraid not.

In general, it seems difficult to define what kind of company Xiaomi is. It is said to make mobile phones, but it is also working on smart home; it is said to be engaged in the Internet and new retail, but it is busy making cars.

What's even more surprising is that while Lei Jun was busy, not only did the mobile phone business not fall behind, but Xiaomi's ecological chain was also thriving. Even the mysterious "car manufacturing" issue was always concerning major cities and the hearts of the general public.

But one thing needs to be made clear: making cars is not like "treating someone to a meal". For Xiaomi, sometimes "slow" is also a kind of "fast".

01 Reuse Xiaomi’s ecological chain “play style”

As BYD President Wang Chuanfu said, Xiaomi's three years of car manufacturing may have wasted both time and money. And the wealthy Evergrande Auto has also fallen into this embarrassing situation today.

But Xiaomi is a little different. At least compared with Evergrande, Xiaomi Auto has a valuable experience package - the Xiaomi ecological chain.

Lei Jun predicted very early on that the next stage of the Internet would be the era of the Internet of Things, which is why we gradually came into being with smart homes based on Xiaomi mobile phones, radiating to all aspects of life, and the all-encompassing Xiaomi ecosystem.

According to the definition in the "Xiaomi Ecosystem Battlefield Notes" officially released by Xiaomi, the Xiaomi Ecosystem is an intelligent hardware incubator based on corporate ecology, and it is not just a simple "invest money and get money" as in the past.

Specifically, Xiaomi exports product methodology and values ​​to ecological chain companies, provides all-round support, and jointly defines products, leads design, assists in R&D, and endorses supply chains with ecological chain companies. Finally, Xiaomi opens two brands, Mijia and Xiaomi, to ecological chain company products that have passed internal testing, and provides channel support, marketing support, and is responsible for sales and after-sales.

Another point that needs to be made clear is that ecological chain enterprises are independent companies. In addition to Mijia and Xiaomi brand products, they can also develop and sell their own brand products.

So the question is: Will Xiaomi Auto also exist as "smart hardware" and be incorporated into the ecological chain under the Xiaomi brand?

Analyzing from the previous Xiaomi tornado chart, the layout of Xiaomi's ecological chain is an "incomplete" gradual process, from near to far, and based on MIUI, mobile phones, and Xiaomi.com, it continues to expand outward.

The reason why it is called "incomplete" is that Xiaomi's ecological chain was also crossing the river by feeling the stones at the beginning, sometimes radical, sometimes conservative, so that it encountered many "pitfalls". However, after the "Huami incident", Xiaomi further strengthened its control over the ecological chain, and the Xiaomi ecological chain has further become one of Xiaomi's indispensable "barriers".

But it should be noted here that Xiaomi's ecological chain and parts supply chain cannot be simply confused. But there are some similarities in that improving Xiaomi's auto parts supply chain may be able to replicate the "playing style" of Xiaomi's ecological chain.

02 “Electric” complement

In fact, gradually penetrating into the automotive industry chain through investment can not only share a lot of risks, but also make it easier to integrate into the automotive industry. For Xiaomi, which has experienced the construction of the ecological chain, this investment and guidance approach is not unfamiliar.

Similar to what Xiaomi's ecological chain did in the past, since Lei Jun announced his plan to build a car, a series of investment behaviors of "Lei Capital" are like a "clockwork", tirelessly collecting "Lego" pieces and trying to "assemble" a Micar.

For example, in order to solve the "electric" problem in smart electric vehicles, Xiaomi not only invested in "battery makers" but also invested in "things used to make batteries."

Honeycomb Energy is a "rare" company that has not yet been listed among the top 10 domestic power battery installation companies. As the "reserve force" of Great Wall Motors, Honeycomb Energy's strength is also remarkable. As for Honeycomb Energy's technical capabilities, the mass-produced cobalt-free battery it released in July this year is a good proof.

Perhaps it is precisely because of the promotion of cobalt-free batteries that on July 30, Honeycomb Energy obtained a round B financing of up to RMB 10.28 billion from investment institutions including Xiaomi Group, Shenzhen Capital Group, and IDG.

Although the specific share of Xiaomi in the company is unknown, there is no doubt that Xiaomi's investment in power battery companies is also paving the way for Xiaomi cars. Moreover, Xiaomi not only invested in "battery manufacturing companies" such as Honeycomb Energy, but also invested in upstream material companies "used to make batteries".

▲Funding related to Honeycomb Energy

Although Ganfeng Lithium is not a "strong" battery company, with the support of Ganfeng Lithium, its lithium resource supply will definitely not be "stretched". Moreover, in the current market, the mainstream of power batteries is still lithium batteries, and both ternary lithium and lithium iron phosphate batteries cannot be separated from the support of upstream materials "lithium mines".

Perhaps it is precisely because Xiaomi has set its sights on Ganfeng Lithium that it has made another acquisition shortly after investing in Honeycomb Energy.

On July 31, Ganfeng Lithium, the parent company of Ganfeng Lithium, announced that in order to optimize the governance structure of its holding subsidiary Ganfeng Lithium and further develop its business, Ganfeng Lithium plans to introduce industrial investors through capital increase and share expansion. At this time, Xiaomi Industrial Investment (Hubei Xiaomi Yangtze River Industry Fund Partnership) invested 75 million yuan and took 3.51% of Ganfeng Lithium's shares.

There is no doubt that the future Micar will also appear as a smart electric car. Xiaomi's investment in Honeycomb Energy and Ganfeng Lithium Battery is just an effort in the "electric" aspect, so what about the "smart" aspect?

03 “Intelligence” complements each other

The intelligence of a car can be simply divided into two parts: smart cockpit and smart driving.

In terms of smart cockpit, Xiaomi can achieve a good level by relying on its business experience in mobile phones over the years. What's more, the Xiaomi ecosystem, including Xiaomi mobile phones, smart homes and other terminal nodes, has been eager to incorporate Micar into the entire Xiaomi ecosystem.

Therefore, in comparison, intelligent driving is more likely to become the difficulty that Xiaomi needs to focus on overcoming.

Generally speaking, so-called intelligent driving is inseparable from the scope of artificial intelligence, and it still needs the support of the three cornerstones of algorithms, computing power, and data.

Specifically, the smart driving algorithm will be divided into three project blocks: perception, calculation, and execution according to different scenarios, and finally integrated into a unified smart driving AI model. Correspondingly, the quality of its algorithm will directly affect the quality of the AI ​​model, and thus affect the level, safety and stability of smart driving.

In terms of computing power, AI chips are needed to ensure that, although Xiaomi is "making chips all the time", there are still some deficiencies when it comes to the vehicle side. In addition, in addition to the AI ​​chip needing to provide sufficient computing power, other peripheral circuits also require the integration of MCU, IGBT and other chips to work properly as a complete electronic architecture.

Finally, regarding data, whether it is the large amount of "labeled high-quality data" used for intelligent driving AI model training or how to obtain more accurate data during the perception process, these are all details that Xiaomi needs to consider. Therefore, the corresponding sensor semiconductor companies, high-precision map companies, and specialized data companies are also the parties that Xiaomi will contact for cooperation.

Because all three aspects are indispensable, not only did Lei Jun personally recruit autonomous driving talents, but Xiaomi's investment department also invested in several "autonomous driving" related companies. Last week, Xiaomi announced that it would acquire DeepMotion Technology for 500 million yuan, which is an extension of Xiaomi's acquisition of DeepMotion on July 9 as shown in the figure below.

In short, the current automotive world is not as violent as before. On the contrary, human relationships are the most mainstream. Therefore, all major car companies, battery companies, and parts companies are constantly expanding their circle of friends. For a newcomer like Xiaomi, its "making friends" operation can undoubtedly bring Xiaomi many conveniences in the automotive industry and quickly recognize its own shortcomings in the automotive field.