Mobile phone company Xiaomi will invest $7 billion (¥50 billion) in 5G, internet technologies and artificial intelligence over the next five years according to Reuters.

Last year, the Beijing-based company claimed it would invest $1.43 billion (¥10 billion) on AI and internet technologies. The new investment pledge is five times more than what it previously promised.

"We need to turn our continuous advantage we have in AIoT and intelligent life into absolute victory in intelligent full scene, and completely cement our king status in the smart era," said Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun.

Stiff competition

In October 2019, Jun claimed the Chinese company would release over 10 mobile devices that utilise 5G in 2020. 5G is tipped to be a gamechanger for mobile gaming, but its rollout may take some time - in the UK, carrier EE has promised to have full coverage of the country by 2022.

Xiaomi went public on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange back in July 2018. It had initially been chasing a $100 billion valuation, but its final value fell quite short of this target.