$10 Billion Investment: Honor Bets On AI-Powered 'Intelligent Phone'

On Sunday, Chinese smartphone maker Honor announced $10 billion in artificial intelligence investment over the next five years. They also declared about building a stronger partnership with Google, bolstering their international market share.

CEO James Li stated at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) trade event in Barcelona that the Shenzhen-based business aims to expand from being primarily a smartphone company and develop a system of AI-powered PCs, tablets, and wearables.

Honor in December said that it had completed a shareholder restructuring that moved it closer to an initial public offering, though no timeline has been announced.

Honor's statement comes amid a boom in Chinese AI investment fueled by interest in startup DeepSeek's low-cost large language models, with parties ranging from local governments to home appliance manufacturers rushing to integrate DeepSeek's technology or do additional AI research.

The Honor spokesperson said, "A small portion of the investment will also be used to prepare for the AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) era.”

"This is not limited to our own devices, but also AI devices from different partners, so the different kinds of AI devices can talk to each other, and consumers can have more choices and seamless experiences," he added.

Based on the investment, Honor hopes to join the list of companies with tight relations with Google, such as Samsung and Xiaomi.