Xiaomi begins layoffs to reduce workforce by up to 10%

Xiaomi began large-scale layoffs this week, with plans to cut its workforce by up to 10%.

The Chinese company said it had “recently implemented routine personnel optimization and organizational streamlining, with affected parties accounting for less than 10 percent of the total workforce,” in an official statement released on Tuesday.

Xiaomi’s total workforce stood at 35,314 workers as of September 30, according to its financial results for the third quarter of this year, with a large majority of those workers (32,609) based in mainland China, followed by India and from Indonesia.

News of the layoffs was first reported by the South China Morning Post, citing social media posts from the workers affected as well as local Chinese media. The layoffs at Xiaomi come as mainland China grapples with the economic fallout from years-long COVID-19 restrictions as well as slowing global demand for smartphones. In November, Xiaomi reported a nearly 10% decline in third-quarter revenue as smartphone sales fell 11% year-on-year. Smartphone revenue accounts for about 60% of the company’s total sales.

Xiaomi is one of the biggest smartphone manufacturers in the world. The Beijing-based company is estimated to have shipped over 190 million units of smartphones in 2021, which is an increase of 45 million units from the previous year, according to Statista.

The layoffs at Xiaomi follow a series of layoffs at a number of Big Tech companies, which saw companies such as Meta, Twitter and Amazon suffer large-scale layoffs.