• Lei Jun, chairman and CEO of Xiaomi Technology and chairman of Kingsoft Corp., delivers a speech at a launch event in Beijing, China.

Lei Jun, chairman and CEO of Xiaomi Technology and chairman of Kingsoft Corp., delivers a speech at a launch event in Beijing, China. (Photo : Getty Images/Ethan Miller)

Despite falling off the list of the top five smartphone makers in China, Xiaomi Corp. announces that it is poised to scoop up more than 100 billion yuan ($14.5 billion) in revenue for 2017.

At an annual gathering in Beijing last week, Xiaomi's Chief Executive Lei Jun said that the "worst is over" for the company, referring to the heightened competition among mobile phones makers in China last year, which led to its drop-out from the top-five list.

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Eager to sustain its spot as the "world's most valuable startup," the 7-year-old company expanded overseas and overhauled some of its business strategies, reported Reuters.

The company also boosted its offline presence with 54 Mi Home stores to date, according to Lei.

Xiaomi did not reveal the exact figures, although it said that it is one of the top three smartphone vendors in India and that its smart hardware revenue reached more than 15 billion yuan. Online revenue also doubled, reported Reuters.

This year, the company aims to add 200 stores to its existing Mi Homes, with plans of reaching 1,000 offline stores over the next three years.

Xiaomi likewise intends to focus on developing artificial intelligence and Internet finance technologies.

The company has already started paving the way for the latter venture, becoming the second-largest shareholder of the recently launched Sichuan XW Bank.

"Our little target in 2017 is for revenue to surpass 100 billion yuan," Lei was quoted as saying by China Daily.

"Our core strategy will be technological breakthroughs, new retail models, internationalization, smart workers and Internet finance."

In 2014, Xiaomi was valued at $45 billion, doubling its revenue and becoming the top smartphone company in China.

However, it missed its shipments target a year after amid a heightened competition with fellow Chinese players Oppo and Huawei Technologies.