China's New Era of Dark Factories

Xiaomi has spearheaded a revolution by launching a fully automated facility that is capable of producing one smartphone per second, but the real headline lies in the fact that China has quietly cracked the code for scalable AI-driven manufacturing

- OUR CORRESPONDENT

Don't get scared when you hear "dark factories." In 2025, "dark factories" are less about fear and more about the future. And at the heart of this revolution stands a jaw-dropping marvel: Xiaomi's fully autonomous factory, producing one smartphone every single second—yes, you read that right.

In 2023, Xiaomi unveiled a sprawling 81,000 square meter autonomous production facility—about the size of 11 soccer fields—that operates 24/7, without a single human on the floor. No lights. No breaks. No shifts. This "dark factory" uses the company's in-house Hyper Intelligent Manufacturing Platform (HyperIMP), an AI-powered ecosystem where machines don't just follow orders—they think, adapt, and optimize.

Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun has been quoted as saying that the huge facility, located in the Changping district on the northeast outskirts of Beijing, follows a lab-level smart factory built in 2019 that produced around 1 million phones per year, which handled the entire production of the Xiaomi Mix Fold.

The new facility is described by Jun as a truly automated mass-production factory. It features 11 production lines, able to produce the company's flagship MIX Fold 4 and the MIX Flip phones at a constant rate of one every few seconds.

The term "dark factory" originates from the fact that these facilities do not require traditional lighting since no humans are on the factory floor. Instead, advanced machines, AI systems, and robotics manage every aspect of production, including assembly, inspection, and logistics. This setup eliminates human error, reduces labor costs, and allows continuous operation without breaks or fatigue.

Traditional automation has its limits. Machines are hard-coded to perform one repetitive task. It's great until...well, something misaligns or a sensor acts up. Then, it's panic stations until a human engineer steps in. But Xiaomi's HyperIMP changes the game. Here's how: