China’s Xiaomi pushes global smartphone expansion as it monitors US trade ban on Huawei

Xiaomi Corp, the world’s fourth largest smartphone supplier, said it was closely monitoring the recent move by Google to curtail some business with Chinese rival Huawei Technologies as the company accelerates its international expansion plans.

“We are paying a lot of attention to this issue, but it has no direct impact on us,” said Chew Shou Zi, chief financial officer at Xiaomi, in a conference call with analysts after the close of trading in Hong Kong on Monday.

Chew said the Beijing-based company, which shipped 27.9 million smartphones in the first quarter, aims “to serve 70 per cent of the world’s population” as part of its expansion strategy. He did not provide a timeline on when that goal would be achieved.