China's Xiaomi takes a page from Apple with a $7 billion plan to make its own mobile chips

Xiaomi boss Lei Jun is ready for his company to emulate Apple's approach to chip design.

PEDRO PARDO/AFP via Getty Images

• Xiaomi boss Lei Jun said his company would start making its own mobile chips.
• He said his company was ready to spend billions of dollars on chip design over the next decade.
• It's an approach that its rival Apple largely popularized.

One of Apple's top rivals in China is taking a page out of its own book, again.

On Monday, Xiaomi's billionaire cofounder and CEO...