Xiaomi Rushes to Shore Up Stock with $26M Buyback as EV Expansion Gets Green Light

Xiaomi repurchases 7.8M shares as stock hits 52-week low; Beijing approves its entry into range-extender EVs, targeting Li Auto's L9 with new Kunlun N3 model by 2026.

The market may be punishing Xiaomi’s stock, but the Chinese tech giant is fighting back on two fronts – buying back millions of its own shares while securing regulatory approval to enter the range-extender electric vehicle segment. The twin moves underscore a company scrambling to stabilise investor confidence as its core smartphone business falters and auto expansion costs mount.

Shares touched a fresh 52-week low of HK$2.82 on Thursday before the company stepped in with a 7.8 million-share repurchase costing around HK$201.9 million. The buyback is part of a much larger programme that authorises up to HK$20 billion in purchases over the coming months. Even so, the stock has shed roughly 36% since the start of the year and the relative strength index has fallen to 29.8, deep in oversold territory.

Just a day earlier, Beijing’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology granted Xiaomi approval to manufacture electric vehicles with range extenders – a technology that pairs a battery pack with a small internal combustion engine acting as a generator. Until now, the company had only produced pure battery-electric models: the SU7 sedan and the YU7 SUV. The green light opens a lucrative new segment in China, where extended-range EVs are especially popular among families wary of range anxiety.

The first model under this new initiative carries the internal codename Kunlun N3. Stretching more than 5.3 metres in length, it is designed to take on Li Auto’s L9 flagship SUV. Xiaomi may market the vehicle under a new sub-brand called Skynomad, with a launch pencilled in for the second half of 2026. The pure-electric range is expected to reach up to 500 kilometres.

Xiaomi’s broader automotive ambitions remain aggressive. It is targeting annual deliveries of 550,000 vehicles, a 34% increase over last year’s total. From January to May, deliveries amounted to roughly 150,000 units, up 13.5% year-on-year. But the monthly trend raised eyebrows: May’s 32,759 vehicles represented a 17% improvement compared with a year earlier, yet a 10.7% drop from April. In the extended-range space, Xiaomi will have to catch up with Li Auto and Huawei-backed Aito, which dominated the segment last year.

The company’s financial picture adds to the pressure. First-quarter net profit plunged 57%, with revenue shrinking to 99.1 billion yuan. Global smartphone shipments fell 19.2%, though the average selling price hit a record high of 1,310 yuan. The auto division, still in its early innings, posted a loss of 3.1 billion yuan for the quarter. Expensive memory chips and sluggish handset demand weighed heavily on the bottom line.

The near-term outlook hinges on whether vehicle deliveries can accelerate decisively in the second half. Until then, the buyback programme remains Xiaomi’s primary tool to keep the stock above its trough. The EREV approval is a tangible step, but investors will need to see the Kunlun N3 move from approval to production – and deliver on those ambitious sales targets – before sentiment is likely to turn.