The company became a household name selling budget smartphones, but is now staking its reputation on electric vehicles.
When Xiaomi boss Lei Jun took to the stage at the end of March to launch the company’s first electric vehicle, it was the climax of a three-year journey on which he has bet his professional legacy. In March 2021, he had called the Xiaomi EV project his last major professional venture, raising the stakes for the 54-year-old billionaire entrepreneur who built his company’s fortune by selling millions of budget smartphones.
“I have realized that it’s so hard to make a car,” admitted Le
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Washington’s $370 billion Inflation Reduction Act was seen as a generational opportunity for miners in the U.S. as well as mineral rich trading partners. But almost two years later, the North American mining industry is in crisis and no closer to chipping away at China's dominance. What went wrong?
The academic explains why we need to look beyond the actions of the Chinese government to understand how and why China is shaping countries in the region.
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