If Chinese brands’ overseas expansion in the past was like lone wolves venturing into the world, it has now become an elite force operating in concert. In early 2026, Xiaomi International and AliExpress announced a strategic partnership, with Xiaomi becoming a core participant in AliExpress’s “Super Brand Overseas Expansion Plan.” This news caused a sensation in the e-commerce industry. Xiaomi’s flagship smartphones, TVs, and other key products will receive preferential resource allocation from the AliExpress platform, and the two companies will jointly conduct localized operations and brand building in overseas markets. This also marks the first deep business collaboration between Jack Ma and Lei Jun in over a decade since Yunfeng Capital invested in Xiaomi in 2014. In fact, the capital and business interactions between Alibaba and Xiaomi predate this collaboration. In December 2014, when Xiaomi completed its $1.1 billion financing round, Yunfeng Capital was among the investors. In 2018, Xiaomi went public in Hong Kong, and Jack Ma was rumored to have personally subscribed for tens of millions of US dollars. On the business front, Xiaomi’s SU7 smart electric vehicle was already listed on AliExpress when it piloted its automotive business in the Middle East last June. This October, the two companies also jointly established Zhejiang Zhiping Vision Technology with Hisense to enter the large-screen OTT market, with Alibaba holding a 67% stake. These preparations laid a solid foundation for the current deep collaboration. AliExpress attracted Xiaomi not only because of its platform size but also because of its groundbreaking promise of a “Super Brand Overseas Plan.” Launched in September 2025, this plan claims operating costs are only half that of Amazon and guarantees prices lower than Amazon, immediately igniting industry interest. The plan provides full-chain support from marketing and user experience to localization. The results were immediate: during Black Friday sales, over 300 brands achieved double the sales on AliExpress in a single day compared to Amazon, with a surge of 80% in million-dollar brands. Xiaomi’s POCO F8 series phones achieved $2 million in sales, and its TV products topped the European charts.
However, not all brand collaborations can achieve mutual empowerment. For example, a well-known domestic mobile phone manufacturer attempted to break through by building its own overseas channels, but due to insufficient local operational experience, its products, despite being good, failed to penetrate the market. In contrast, the collaborative model between Xiaomi and AliExpress allows both parties to contribute product strength and platform ecosystem, forming a synergy. With the addition of Xiaomi International, AliExpress becomes more competitive in the 3C field, attracting more brands to join and promoting a virtuous cycle. This two-way approach has enabled Xiaomi to rapidly expand globally and has also led to AliExpress’s continuous growth in overseas markets.
Similar trends of ecosystem collaboration are spreading in the global e-commerce sector.
During AliExpress’s Black Friday and Double 11 shopping festivals in 2025, brands in niche sectors such as Ingeway, Siotop pool robots, and Eufy smart home products achieved record-breaking sales and brand awareness on the platform. Marketplace Universe data shows that AliExpress’s monthly active users in France, Spain, and Germany reached 33.5 million, 35.6 million, and 25.8 million respectively, with a user penetration rate as high as 72.5% in Spain. Sensor Tower also pointed out that during Black Friday 2025, AliExpress’s downloads in Europe briefly surpassed Amazon’s. In the future, brand globalization will no longer be a solo endeavor, but a competition between ecosystems. AliExpress is attracting Fortune 500 companies and leading domestic and international brands to participate in its Super Brand Program. China’s cross-border e-commerce is also shifting from low-price competition to a new stage of branding and ecosystem collaboration. Under this trend, the collaboration between Alibaba and Xiaomi may only be the prologue to the globalization journey of Chinese brands.
