Revealing the unexpected reason that made Xiaomi on the US blacklist

In January of this year, the US government surprised everyone by blacklisting Xiaomi due to its military ties. What surprised everyone was that unlike Xiaomi, the founders of Xiaomi were not of military background nor their portfolio of products, all of which were civil appliances.

But a recent Wall Street Journal report revealed the reasons for the government and the Department of Defense’s accusations against Xiaomi and that the company was punished. According to that report, the accusation was due to a gift from the government to the founder of Xiaomi as a reward for his service to the country.

This is the award called ” The builder of socialism with Chinese identity ” sent by the Ministry of Information Technology and Industry to Mr. Lei Jun in 2019. That year, beside Mr. Lei Jun, there were nearly 100 Other Chinese executives also received this award. The award is also posted on Mr. Lei’s biography page on the website and the company’s annual reports.

However, this award is not the only reason why their company is blacklisted by the US government. Another reason why Xiaomi has fallen into the sights of the Department of Defense and the US government is the company’s ambitious plans to enter high-tech sectors such as 5G and artificial intelligence.

In the New Year’s message to his employees in January 2020, Mr. Lei said that Xiaomi is planning to invest $ 7.7 billion over the next five years to “ensure absolute dominance in the field of life. smart “by developing technologies that combine 5G, AI and the Internet of Things.

The information was disclosed in a filing filed by the US Department of Defense in court last week in response to Xiaomi’s own lawsuit that overturned the US government’s decision earlier this year.

While Xiaomi’s stock tripled on the Hong Kong exchange last year, the Department of Defense’s decision to blacklist the company caused the stock price to plunge by 25% when it closed on May 14. One. Being blacklisted would prohibit American individuals and organizations from investing in Xiaomi, which is currently the world’s third-largest smartphone maker.

Refer to the Wall Street Journal