Chinese device maker Xiaomi announced it is partnering with Sweden-based retailing giant IKEA to offer smart lighting products, in a move to expand the vendor’s range of products using artificial intelligence (AI) and IoT technologies.
The partnership, announced at Xiaomi’s annual developer conference in Beijing, will see IKEA’s range of smart lighting products connected to Xiaomi’s IoT platform starting in December.
In a statement, Xiaomi said the lights can be paired to other Xiaomi IoT smart devices including sensors and electrical appliances to enable smart scene management. The lighting products will be connected to the Mi Control Hub (a home gateway device) through the ZigBee protocol, with control handled by the vendor’s Xiao Ai voice assistant and Mi Home app.
Lei Jun, Xiaomi chairman and CEO (pictured), said its IoT platform had connected more than 132 million smart devices (excluding mobile phones and laptops) as of 30 September, with more than 20 million devices active daily in more than 200 countries.
Xiaomi said the deal is IKEA’s first partnership with a Chinese technology company.
The smartphone maker also announced it will invest CNY100 million ($14.4 million) in the Xiaomi AIoT Developer Fund, which will be used to support AI developers, hardware equipment manufacturers and AI technology companies.
Comments