Xiaomi aims to spend $7 billion on building own chip this decade

Xiaomi Corp. is planning to invest at least 50 billion yuan ($6.9 billion) in developing its own mobile processor over a decade to grow its semiconductor clout, as major tech companies increasingly treat chip know-how as strategically important.

“Chips are a peak we need to climb and a hard battle we cannot escape if we want to become a great hard tech company,” Xiaomi’s billionaire co-founder Lei Jun said in a post on China’s X-like Weibo on Monday. The Chinese company is set to unveil its first self-designed processor, Xring O1, on May 22,…