Beijing, Dec 29 (IANS): Smartphone brand Xiaomi has announced that it is planning to invest over $15 billion into research and development (R&D) over the next five years, media reports said.

According to GizmoChina, Xiaomi Chairman and founder Lei Jun said that the company's goals for investment into R&D in the next 5 years have been increased to 100 billion Yuan (around $15 billion).

The company's previous announcement from a couple of years back had set the amount at 50 billion Yuan, so the upgraded plans impart a perfect two-fold increase, the report said.

The CEO further revealed under the same post that 22 billion Yuan had already been invested over the past two years and that Xiaomi now has 16,000 engineers, meaning things have been going smoothly and in accordance with plans, it added.

He said that all of it is being done to "live up to the expectations of Mi Fans".

As per the report, the investment also very likely has a major role to play in getting the company to diverge into other businesses including smart home products and even electric vehicles.