Xiaomi Changes Management, William Lu to Succeed Wang Xiang as President

Lei Jun, founder and CEO of Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi, issued an internal letter on December 22, announcing that Wang Xiang, President of Xiaomi, will retire at the end of the month and continue to serve as a senior consultant. In his place, William Lu, current Senior Vice President of Xiaomi, will take over the post, according to a report by Chinese media outlet The Paper. Co-founders Hong Feng and Wang Chuan will also withdraw from the front line of business at the end of this year, and continue to support the strategic development of the company in the Partners Committee.

“The nomination of the new president does not mean that Lei Jun will completely devote himself to manufacturing vehicles. Lei himself made a formal statement at an internal communication meeting before the release of the Xiaomi 13 series of smartphones. Smartphones are still the core business for Xiaomi, and the company will remain focused on this main business in the future,” according to a source cited by a report by Chinese media outlet Leiphone.

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As early as the beginning of this year, news emerged that, after leaving Xiaomi, Wang Xiang will go to Rong Semiconductor (Ningbo) Co., Ltd. as CEO. Public information shows that the company was established in April 2021, and Wang Xiang is already a director of it. It was jointly founded by Wang Xiang and Yu Renrong, Chairman of Will Semiconductor.

In addition, Lei Jun’s internal letter shows that after careful discussion and negotiation by the Partners Committee of the Company, it decided to promote William Lu as the new group president, who will officially succeed Wang Xiang on December 30 of this year.

“William and I have known each other for many years and have quite a lot of experience in the mobile phone industry and considerable industry influence. Since joining Xiaomi in early 2019, William has gained recognition and respect from the group management. He served as the head of the Redmi brand and the president of Xiaomi China, and then led the three major business divisions of Xiaomi China, International Department and Xiaomi India.” Lei Jun stated.

“This series of news shared today is of milestone significance to Xiaomi,” Lei Jun said in the internal letter that Xiaomi management had achieved a smooth iteration and is prepared for sustainable development in the future.

According to Lei Jun, Xiaomi is at the starting point of a new stage. After three years of exploration, its high-end strategy has just made an outcome: the Xiaomi 13 Series. The business progress of smart electric vehicles has exceeded expectations, and the company is full of confidence in its ability to mass produce and launch in the first half of 2024. The overall technical system of the company is also growing, and a large number of innovations are emerging. Advanced explorations such as Xiaomi‘s new humanoid robot CyberOne continue to make progress, and the intelligent manufacturing system is continuously empowering the whole manufacturing industry.

“Next, we will continue to increase investment in R&D, continue to promote the high-end strategy, and promote the company’s business focus and streamline administration to further improve operational efficiency.” Lei Jun stated.