Lei Jun

Lei Jun
Born	16 12, 1969
Birthplace	Xiantao, Hubei, China
Nationality	Chinese
Occupation	Template:Hlist
Title	Template:Ubl
Known for	Founder, chairman, and CEO of Xiaomi
Spouse(s)	Zhang Tong
Children	2
Awards	Forbes Asia Businessman of the Year (2014), Time 100 Most Influential People (2015)
Website	[https://weibo.com/leijun Official site]

Lei Jun (Template:Lang; born 16 December 1969) is a Chinese billionaire entrepreneur, computer engineer, and business executive who founded the consumer electronics and smart manufacturing company Xiaomi Corporation in 2010. He serves as its chairman and chief executive officer, a role through which he has overseen the company's rapid expansion from a smartphone startup into one of the world's largest consumer technology firms. Lei also serves as chairman of Kingsoft, the enterprise software company where he spent much of his early career, and as chairman of Shunwei Capital, a venture capital fund he co-founded. A prolific technology investor whose early bets included stakes in companies such as UCWeb and YY Inc., Lei has been recognized as one of Asia's most consequential business figures. Forbes Asia named him Businessman of the Year in 2014, and Time magazine included him in its list of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2015. Since 2013, he has served as a deputy to the National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China. As of May 2025, his net worth was estimated by Forbes at approximately US$42.6 billion, placing him among the wealthiest individuals globally.

Early Life

Lei Jun was born on 16 December 1969 in Xiantao, a city in Hubei province in central China. He developed an interest in computers and technology at an early age. As a young student, Lei demonstrated strong aptitude in science and engineering, interests that would define his subsequent academic and professional trajectory.

Growing up in Hubei during the 1970s and 1980s, Lei came of age during a period of sweeping economic reform in China. The country's opening-up policies under Deng Xiaoping created new opportunities in technology and enterprise that would prove formative for Lei's generation of entrepreneurs. Lei has spoken publicly about how reading a biography of Steve Jobs during his university years ignited his ambition to build a great technology company, a goal he would pursue across several decades before ultimately founding Xiaomi.

Education

Lei Jun attended Wuhan University, one of China's oldest and most prestigious institutions of higher learning, where he studied computer science. He earned his bachelor's degree from the university, completing his coursework in a notably short period. His academic record at Wuhan University was distinguished, and the experience provided him with a strong technical foundation in software engineering that he would apply throughout his career. Wuhan University later became a source of recruitment talent for Lei's ventures, and he has maintained ties with the institution over the years.

Career

Kingsoft (1992–2007)

Lei Jun joined Kingsoft, a Chinese software company, in 1992, shortly after completing his university education. The company, which had been founded in 1988 by Qiu Bojun, was one of China's pioneering software firms, known primarily for its WPS Office suite, a competitor to Microsoft Office in the Chinese market. Lei rose through the ranks at Kingsoft over the course of nearly two decades, taking on increasing levels of responsibility.

In 1998, Lei was appointed CEO of Kingsoft, a position he held for a decade. Under his leadership, the company expanded its product lines beyond office software into areas including internet security (Kingsoft Internet Security) and online gaming. Lei guided Kingsoft through a period of intense competition in the Chinese software industry, including rivalry with international firms such as Microsoft. He oversaw the company's initial public offering on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in October 2007.

Despite this achievement, Lei has described the Kingsoft years as a long and arduous chapter in his career. In a 2012 profile published by Forbes, journalist Laura He characterized Lei's tenure at Kingsoft as a "long, twisting road," noting the persistent challenges the company faced in competing against much larger global software rivals. Lei stepped down as CEO of Kingsoft in 2007 but retained a role as chairman of the board, a position he continues to hold.

Angel Investing and Venture Capital (2007–2010)

After leaving the day-to-day management of Kingsoft, Lei Jun entered a period of prolific angel investing. Between 2007 and 2010, he invested in a number of Chinese technology startups, several of which achieved significant commercial success.

Among Lei's notable early investments was UCWeb, a mobile browser company. UCWeb grew to become one of the most widely used mobile browsers in China and several other markets. In 2014, Alibaba Group acquired UCWeb, by then the parent company of the UC mobile browser, in what was reported as a major deal in China's mobile internet sector.

Another notable investment was in YY Inc. (later renamed JOYY Inc.), a social media and live-streaming platform. Lei served as an early backer of the company, and when YY completed its initial public offering on the Nasdaq in November 2012, Lei's stake reportedly generated a return of roughly one hundred times his original investment.

Lei was also an investor in Joyo.com, a Chinese e-commerce company. In 2004, Amazon acquired Joyo.com Limited, which subsequently became Amazon China.

Lei co-founded Shunwei Capital in 2011 as a vehicle to formalize his venture capital activities. The firm has since invested in hundreds of companies across sectors including mobile internet, e-commerce, social media, and smart hardware, with a particular focus on the Chinese and broader Asian markets.

Founding of Xiaomi (2010–present)

On 6 April 2010, Lei Jun co-founded Xiaomi Corporation with a group of like-minded entrepreneurs. The company's name, which translates roughly to "little rice" or "millet," reflected Lei's philosophy of building accessible technology products. Xiaomi's initial focus was on developing a custom Android-based operating system called MIUI, which it distributed for free to build a community of users before launching its first hardware product.

Xiaomi released its first smartphone, the Mi 1, in August 2011. The device was priced significantly below comparable smartphones from established brands such as Samsung and Apple, yet offered competitive specifications. This strategy of offering high-specification devices at aggressive price points became a hallmark of the company under Lei's leadership. Xiaomi sold its phones primarily through online channels, reducing distribution costs and enabling its low-price model.

The company experienced rapid growth in the years following its founding. By 2014, Xiaomi had become the largest smartphone vendor in China by shipments, a milestone that drew international attention to both the company and its founder. Tech in Asia described Xiaomi during this period as "China's most important tech company," noting its disruptive approach to hardware pricing, online sales, and community-driven product development.

Under Lei's direction, Xiaomi expanded well beyond smartphones. The company developed an extensive ecosystem of connected devices and consumer electronics, including fitness bands, air purifiers, televisions, routers, power banks, and smart home devices. Many of these products were manufactured by companies in which Xiaomi held investment stakes, a model Lei described as building an "ecosystem" around the Xiaomi brand and its IoT platform.

Xiaomi went public on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on 9 July 2018, in what was one of the largest technology initial public offerings that year. Lei Jun continued to serve as the company's chairman and CEO following the listing.

Xiaomi's Entry into Electric Vehicles

In March 2021, Xiaomi announced its entry into the electric vehicle (EV) market, with Lei Jun personally leading the initiative. He described the decision as his "last major entrepreneurial project," signaling the personal significance he attached to the venture. Xiaomi invested heavily in research and development for its first automobile, the Xiaomi SU7, a battery electric sedan.

The SU7 was launched in 2024 and quickly achieved significant sales volume. By February 2025, Lei announced on the Chinese social media platform Weibo that first-generation SU7 deliveries had exceeded 381,000 units, a figure he characterized as a milestone for the nascent automotive division. In January 2025, Xiaomi EV reported single-month sales exceeding 39,000 units, and Lei participated in a livestream revealing progress on the next-generation SU7. In February 2025, Xiaomi unveiled a new color variant, "Chixia Red" (also referred to as "Sunset Red"), for the next-generation SU7 model.

Xiaomi also began developing a second vehicle, the YU7, an SUV. In January 2026, Lei Jun opened the year alongside his team with a teardown session of the YU7, a public demonstration of the vehicle's engineering that was characteristic of his hands-on, community-facing leadership style.

In February 2026, after a Xiaomi-branded SUV was spotted on a highway in California, speculation arose that Xiaomi was preparing to enter the United States market. Lei Jun responded on Weibo, stating that Xiaomi had no plans to enter the U.S. market at that time and that the vehicle was "likely a comparison vehicle bought by [a] US peer." The Global Times and other media outlets reported his clarification.

U.S. Blacklisting and Reversal

In January 2021, the United States Department of Defense placed Xiaomi on a list of companies alleged to have ties to the Chinese military, a designation that would have restricted American investment in the firm. According to The Wall Street Journal, the designation was linked in part to an award that Lei Jun had received from the Chinese government, described as recognition for his contributions to the national defense industry. Xiaomi challenged the designation in U.S. federal court, and in May 2021, a federal judge ruled in the company's favor, ordering its removal from the blacklist. The Department of Defense subsequently agreed to delist Xiaomi.

Personal Life

Lei Jun is married to Zhang Tong, and the couple have two children. Lei maintains an active presence on the Chinese social media platform Weibo, where he regularly communicates with consumers and technology enthusiasts about Xiaomi products and industry trends. He has been a deputy to the National People's Congress since 2013, participating in China's legislative process in that capacity.

Lei has also been involved in philanthropic activities. In 2021, amid the Chinese government's push for "common prosperity," Lei was among several prominent Chinese technology executives who directed substantial sums toward charitable causes.

Lei is known for his public persona as an accessible and hands-on CEO. He frequently participates in product launch events, livestreams, and public demonstrations — a style that has drawn comparisons in the media to Steve Jobs, a figure Lei has cited as an inspiration since his university years.

Recognition

Lei Jun has received a number of honors and awards reflecting his prominence in the technology industry.

In December 2014, Forbes Asia named Lei Jun its Businessman of the Year, citing his role in building Xiaomi into one of the world's most valuable technology startups. At the time, Xiaomi had recently been valued at US$45 billion in a private funding round, making it one of the most valuable private technology companies globally.

In 2015, Time magazine included Lei in its annual list of the 100 Most Influential People in the world, placing him among a small group of global technology leaders.

In April 2017, Lei was honored in China for his contributions as a technology entrepreneur and billionaire, in a recognition reported by technology media outlet GizmoChina as reflecting his status as a leading figure in China's technology sector.

As of May 2025, Forbes estimated Lei Jun's net worth at approximately US$42.6 billion, ranking him the 33rd wealthiest person in the world. His wealth is derived primarily from his shareholding in Xiaomi, as well as from his stakes in Kingsoft, Shunwei Capital's portfolio companies, and other investments accumulated over his career.

Legacy

Lei Jun's career spans the arc of China's transformation into a global technology power. His early work at Kingsoft coincided with the development of China's domestic software industry in the 1990s, while his angel investments in the late 2000s helped support a generation of mobile internet startups that came to define the Chinese technology landscape. The founding of Xiaomi in 2010 represented an effort to apply the lessons of this experience to consumer hardware, and the company's growth into a Fortune Global 500 firm has been one of the defining stories of the Chinese technology industry in the 2010s and 2020s.

Xiaomi's business model — combining high-specification hardware at low margins, an ecosystem of connected devices, internet services revenue, and a direct-to-consumer sales approach — has influenced the strategies of numerous technology companies in China and globally. Lei's decision to enter the electric vehicle market with the SU7 sedan extended this model into the automotive sector, positioning Xiaomi as one of the few major consumer electronics companies to simultaneously compete in both the smartphone and EV industries.

Lei's approach to leadership, characterized by direct communication with consumers via social media, participatory product development, and a willingness to engage publicly with both successes and setbacks, has set a template followed by other Chinese technology executives. His career trajectory — from software engineer to CEO to angel investor to founder of a global hardware company — has made him a prominent figure in discussions about entrepreneurship and innovation in China.