(Yicai Global) Nov. 29 -- Chinese tech giant Xiaomi will locate its electric vehicle subsidiary’s headquarters and first car factory, capable of producing 300,000 cars a year, in Beijing.

Xiaomi signed an agreement with Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area on Nov. 27 to build its auto unit’s HQ, including sales and research offices, and the factory in the auto industry hub, according to a press release published on the area’s website yesterday. 

The plant will go up in two phases, each of which will have annual output of 150,000 EVs. The first cars should roll off the assembly line as early as 2024, the statement said. No investment amount was disclosed. 

Beijing-based Xiaomi, China’s biggest smartphone maker, announced in March that it would spend USD10 billion over the next decade to develop a smart electric vehicle business. 

Xiaomi founder and Chief Executive Lei Jun is the legal representative of the EV unit, which was incorporated in Beijing in September with registered capital of CNY10 billion (USD1.6 billion). Its team already has more than 500 employees, Xiaomi said in its third-quarter earnings report. 

Beijing Economy-Technological Development Area is also an autonomous driving test zone where Chinese internet giant Baidu and self-driving tech startup Pony.ai are running the country’s first commercial robotaxi services. The zone’s economy grew almost 39 percent to CNY193.5 billion (USD30.3 billion) in the first nine months of this year from a year earlier. 

Editor: Futura Costaglione