Since Apple’s switch away from Intel in 2020, a few other smartphone makers are testing the waters on designing their own silicon. While Apple leads the way, Android rivals are still catching up.

In the Android smartphone space, Google has partnered with Samsung to make its Tensor chipsets. The next year’s Pixel devices could possibly get the company’s own custom chipset.

Such semiconductor plans, pursued by American smartphone brands, are making the Chinese rivals to design their own chipsets

.For example, Xiaomi is reportedly developing its own mobile chipset, per a report by Android Authority. The Chinese brand could possibly start mass producing the chipsets as early as next year. The brand’s smartphones currently use chipsets designed by Qualcomm or MediaTek. Xiaomi’s latest 15 series is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite

.The report revealed that the new chipset would be built on TSMC’s 4nm (N4P) process and that it might be similar to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, released in 2022, in terms of performance. Xiaomi could be using Arm’s off-the-shelf parts in the chip

.The Chinese government has also recently strengthened policies around building local businesses, having asked local companies to reduce their dependence on foreign technology which could be a reason for the move.