Xiaomi Secures Shanghai Commercial Property for 1.55 Billion Yuan, Speculated as Site of Auto Business R&D Center

Chinese media outlet The Paper reported on Friday that according to its reporter’s inquiry on the website of the Shanghai Municipal Planning and Natural Resources Bureau, a piece of commercial office land was sold in the city’s Xuhui District on October 21. The deal was won by Mi Space SH Limited, with a transaction price of 1.55 billion yuan ($242.6 million) and a floor price of 31,001 yuan/㎡. Media speculated that the move may be for the Xiaomi Auto Business R&D Center, but the firm has not responded yet.

According to the announcement, the site is located in Longhua Block, Xuhui District, Xietu Street, with an area of 16,666 ㎡, a plot ratio of three and a construction area of 49,998 ㎡. The site is located in the expansion area of the Shanghai West Bank Financial City, which is committed to building a a financial and intelligent application cluster location, according to the transaction announcement. It is required to focus on introducing financial enterprises headquarters, innovative technology enterprise headquarters and R&D centers to promote the integration and development of industries such as finance, the Internet of Things, intelligent manufacturing and intelligent applications.

According to Tianyancha, a business data search firm, Mi Space SH Limited is an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Xiaomi, just established on May 28 this year with a registered capital of 680.2 million yuan. Its business includes technology development and software development in the field of science and technology, non-residential property rental, social and economic consulting services and others. It specifically mentioned that it will not engage in consulting services for financial information. Its legal representative is Zhang Feng, a senior partner and Vice President of Xiaomi, as well as the legal representative of Mi Space in Beijing, Nanjing, Wuhan and other branches.

Xiaomi‘s recent land acquisition in Shanghai reminds outsiders of its carmaking business announced earlier this year. In addition to the announcement that its first factory will be located in Beijing, the company has not announced other details on its auto business.

As of noon on October 22, the relevant person in charge of Xiaomi has not yet replied to the the The Paper’s reporter.

SEE ALSO: Xiaomi Auto Plans to Launch First Models in 2024 and Sell 900,000 Vehicles in Three Years

On October 19, Lei Jun, Chairman of Xiaomi, announced at the firm’s Investor Day that the progress of Xiaomi Auto and its team has been far beyond his expectations, and that Xiaomi Auto is expected to begin mass production in the first half of 2024. Auto industry sources told The Paper’s reporters that the core team of Xiaomi Auto business will be settled in Beijing, not excluding the possibility of functional departments, while part of the R&D team will be settled in Shanghai.

Previously, Xiaomi had released news on professional recruitment websites, including many positions in vehicle design and development, ranging from automobile chassis and vehicle architecture to air conditioning and interior decoration. The workplaces advertised included “Shanghai Xuhui.”   

In recent years, Chinese internet companies have made many land acquisitions in Shanghai. In 2018, Netease spent nearly 2 billion yuan to acquire land in Xuhui Binjiang, Shanghai. In November 2020, Hanhai Information Technology (Shanghai) Limited Company, an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Meituan, took a commercial office site in Yangpu District of Shanghai for 6.541 billion yuan. In January 2021, Bilibili won a nearly 130,000-square-meter plot of land on the East Bund of Yangpu District for 8.1 billion yuan as its new headquarters, and became neighbors with Meituan.