While facing significant headwinds in the equity markets, Chinese technology giant Xiaomi is executing a dual strategy of technological innovation and financial engineering. The company has initiated testing of its proprietary humanoid robots in manufacturing while simultaneously accelerating a substantial share repurchase program.
Factory Floor Gets Robotic “Interns”
In a recent pilot at its electric vehicle plant, Xiaomi deployed two of its self-developed humanoid robots. The machines completed a three-hour autonomous operation at an assembly station for self-tapping screws, achieving a bilateral success rate of 90.2% while meeting a required cycle time of 76 seconds.
“At Xiaomi’s auto factory, a new car rolls off the assembly line every 76 seconds,” stated company president Lu Weibing during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, noting the robots’ capability to match this pace. The underlying technology enabling this deployment is an internally developed vision-language-action model, dubbed Xiaomi-Robotics-0, integrated with reinforcement learning algorithms.
Lu tempered expectations, clarifying that the application remains in an early phase, with the robots performing tasks “more like interns.” Looking ahead, CEO Lei Jun announced plans to deploy humanoid robots at scale across production facilities within the next five years.
Aggressive Capital Return Through Buybacks
Concurrently, Xiaomi is actively returning capital to shareholders. The company has entered an agreement with an independent broker for an automatic buyback program of up to HKD 2.5 billion. A single transaction on March 3rd saw the repurchase of 3.2 million Class-B shares for HKD 100 million.
Notably, throughout 2026, the conglomerate has been acquiring its own shares on nearly every single trading day. The preceding month alone witnessed over HKD 3.2 billion allocated to buybacks—the highest monthly expenditure in more than two years.
Operational Strength Contrasts with Share Performance
Despite these corporate actions, Xiaomi’s stock remains under considerable pressure, declining approximately 19% year-to-date and more than 43% over a twelve-month period. The shares are trading significantly below their 200-day moving average.
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This market performance stands in stark contrast to the firm’s operational results. For the first nine months of 2025, revenue surged 32.5% to exceed RMB 340 billion, while profit skyrocketed 140% to more than RMB 35 billion.
A key milestone was reached in Q3 2025 when Xiaomi’s EV segment turned profitable less than two years after its market launch, posting an operating profit of RMB 700 million. The segment’s gross margin leaped to 25.5%, up from 17.1% a year earlier.
Multiple Challenges Weigh on Investor Sentiment
Several structural factors are contributing to the negative market sentiment. A global shortage of memory chips is particularly punishing for mass-market smartphone manufacturers. Rising prices for DRAM and NAND flash memory are compressing margins, while passing these costs to consumers risks dampening demand.
Furthermore, the intense price competition persisting in China’s EV market is a concern. Investors expressed disappointment with the company’s moderate delivery target of 550,000 vehicles for 2026.
An escalating tax dispute in India presents another challenge. Authorities have accused Xiaomi of evading customs duties on royalty payments. The original claim of $72 million could potentially double to over $150 million with penalties. Additionally, assets worth approximately $610 million remain frozen.
Annual Results to Set the Tone
All eyes are on the audited annual results for 2025, scheduled for release on March 24th. The board is also considering proposing its first final dividend since the company’s initial public offering.
The upcoming report will likely serve as a key indicator of how the market values Xiaomi’s blend of technological ambition against prevailing macroeconomic and sector-specific headwinds. Analysts at RBC Capital Markets project the global market for humanoid robots could reach $9 trillion by 2050, with China expected to account for more than 60% of that total.
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