Xiaomi’s revolutionary new Dark Factory runs 247 without breaks, lights or people
Decades in the making the first true Dark Factories that are almost fully autonomous are emerging, and it's a paradigm shift for the logistics and manufacturing industry.
Cite or link to this article
Griffin, M. (2025) 'Xiaomi’s revolutionary new Dark Factory runs 247 without breaks, lights or people', 311 Institute, 13 May. Available at: https://www.311institute.com/xiaomis-revolutionary-new-dark-factory-runs-247-without-breaks-lights-or-people/ (Accessed: 1 October 2026).
As I’ve been sharing over the years we’re now starting to see the first genuine large scale Dark Factories emerge, factories that operate 24/7 without any humans on the floor or any human involvement.
There are no humans working the newest Xiaomi production lines, thier new Smart Factory is 100% automated. Indeed, the company says the system is smart enough to diagnose and fix problems, as well as optimizing its own processes to "evolve by itself."
The 80,000-square-meter (860,000-sq-ft) facility, located in the Changping district on the northeast outskirts of Beijing, follows a pilot smart factory in Yizhuang, which produced about a million units a year of the company's Mix Fold smartphone.
"There are 11 production lines," says Xiaomi Founder and CEO Lei Jun in a short video. "100% of the key processes are automated. We developed our entire production and manufacturing software to achieve this."
The new factory will produce Xiaomi's upcoming foldable phones, the MIX Fold 4 and the MIX Flip, to be released later this month, spitting them out at a rate of about one every three seconds, 24/7.
According to GizmoChina, it maintains a totally clean manufacturing environment, with micron-level dust removal, which would explain the operating-theater-style gowns and caps worn by the small number of humans working in the 'war room' of the Smart Factory.
Post on X Step into the heart of our factory, the "War Room". Our Xiaomi Hyper IMP (Intelligent Manufacturing Platform) is the brain of the operations, proactively solving issues and optimizing production. pic.twitter.com/6ZWhOm5wle Lei Jun (@leijun) July 9, 2024
See it in action
Totally automated "lights out" factories, of course, have been around a little while. Japanese robotics company Fanuc Ltd, for example, opened its first fully automated line back in 2001, and according to CNN Money, by 2003 it had a factory near Mt Fuji in which robots were building other robots, around 50 a day, running totally unsupervised for up to a month at a time.
But Xiaomi may have taken things up a notch, by allowing the Artificial Intelligence (AI) brain of the factory to autonomously develop and optimize its processes over time.
"What's most impressive," says Lei Jun, "is that this platform can identify and solve issues, while also helping to improve the production process. That's really incredible! This platform blew our colleagues away when they first saw it."
A Weibo post expands on this, one section translating roughly to the following: "the 100% self-developed 'Xiaomi Pengpai Intelligent Manufacturing Platform' is the brain of the factory, injecting soul into the factory, allowing the entire factory to have self-perception, self-decision-making, and self-execution capabilities, and can independently diagnose equipment problems, improve process flows, and realize full-scenario digital management from raw material procurement to delivery, becoming a true smart factory that can evolve by itself."
Pretty remarkable stuff, and certainly a taste of what's coming worldwide.
Source: Lei Jun
What this means for your organisation
Lights out is not new.
Fanuc opened its first fully automated line in 2001. By 2003 its robots were building other robots, around 50 a day, with no supervision for up to a month. The step change is the factory brain that now diagnoses faults and improves its own processes.
The factory now improves itself.
Xiaomi says its platform can identify and solve issues, and help improve production. That is self-learning AI at work on a factory floor. 311 rates self-learning AI as Prepare, with wide use expected by 2030.
Pilots lead to full-scale sites.
Xiaomi moved from a pilot smart factory in Yizhuang to a site with 11 production lines. 311 rates Factory AI at Scale as Prepare, with wide use by 2029, and Dark Factories as Watch, with wide use by 2040. Leaders should treat a pilot as the first step, not the end point.
Three questions for your next leadership meeting
- Which of our processes could run with no people on the floor?
- Could our systems find and fix their own faults today?
- Is our pilot plan built to grow into a whole network?
The trends and technologies behind this story
From the 311 Starburst, the 311 Strategic Intelligence Unit’s map of the technologies and trends shaping the next 50 years.
Analysis by the 311 Strategic Intelligence Unit, from Matthew Griffin’s article and 311 data. First published on Fanatical Futurist.
FAQ
Why does this matter?
Decades in the making the first true Dark Factories that are almost fully autonomous are emerging, and it's a paradigm shift for the logistics and manufacturing industry.
About the author
Matthew Griffin Founder, President and Futurist, 311 Institute
Matthew Griffin is a multi-award winning Futurist and expert in Disruption and Innovation, Geopolitics, Leadership, and Technology, who NASA have described as a "walking encyclopaedia of the future" and a "futurist Polymath."
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Matthew Griffin is a multi-award winning Futurist and expert in Disruption and Innovation, Geopolitics, Leadership, and Technology, who NASA have described as a "walking encyclopaedia of the future" and a "futurist Polymath." 17-time best selling author of the "Codex of the Future" series, Matthew is the Founder, President and Futurist of the 311 Institute, a global Futures and Deep Futures advisory firm working with royal households, world leaders, G7, G20, and G77 governments, NGOs, and multi-national mid and mega cap firms to help them explore, shape, and lead the next 50 years of business and society.
An award-winning YouTube creator with over a million followers, with an unrivalled global reach and impact, Matthew is a highly sought-after international keynote speaker, lecturer, and mentor who collaborates with global leaders through the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) and United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to shape pivotal initiatives such as the UN’s AI for Humanity programme, the United Nations Conference of the Parties (UN COP), and the World Economic Forum in Davos.
As the former Global Head of Cloud, National Security, and Enterprise Sales for companies including Atos, Dell-EMC, and IBM, Matthew has a proven track record of building multi-billion dollar business units and turning failing divisions into market leaders. His ability to identify, analyse, and communicate the implications of hundreds of emerging technologies and trends is unparalleled, and his insights are trusted by many of the world’s most respected organisations, including ABB, Accenture, Adidas, AON, ARM, BCG, Centrica, Citi, Coca-Cola, Dentons, Deloitte, Dow Jones, EY, Google, KPMG, Lego, Legal & General, LinkedIn, Microsoft, PepsiCo, Qualcomm, RWE, Samsung, Siemens AG and Siemens Energy, T-Mobile, UBS, VISA, Walmart, Workday, Worldpay and many others.
Regularly featured in the global media including the AP, BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, Discovery, Forbes, Khaleej Times, Telegraph, TIME, ViacomCBS, WIRED, and the WSJ, Matthews mission is to help organisations create a fair and sustainable future whose benefits are shared by everyone irrespective of their ability, background, or circumstances.
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Sources and further reading
- Xiaomi smart factory can operate 24 hours a day without people gizmochina.com
- View on X → twitter.com
- Index web.archive.org
- Leijun x.com
Source: first published by the 311 Institute on 13 May 2025. Cite as: Griffin, M. (2025). Xiaomi’s revolutionary new Dark Factory runs 247 without breaks, lights or people. 311 Institute. https://www.311institute.com/xiaomis-revolutionary-new-dark-factory-runs-247-without-breaks-lights-or-people/
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