17 highlights and milestones in China tech in 2014

While there was plenty not to like about China’s web and tech realms in 2014, it was undoubtedly another year of major milestones and notable achievements. You could say it was the year that China’s tech industry took its rightful place alongside Silicon Valley, especially with Alibaba’s record-breaking IPO.

Here are 17 high points in China in the past year:

1. China’s Tesla

One of the country’s first tech highlights of the year happened when China’s Wanxiang Group bought up US-based electric/hybrid car-maker Fisker in a bankruptcy auction.

This gives China a credible luxury automaker – and a particularly hi-tech one at that.

The new owners want to revive and relaunch the sleek Fisker Karma sedan (pictured above), but it will be a tough task. The model met with poor reviews in 2012, so there’s a lot to be done to make the car ready to take on Tesla.

2. Xiaomi ventures overseas

After a tentative roll-out to neighboring Hong Kong and Taiwan in 2013, this year Xiaomi finally ventured into markets further afield, starting with Singapore in February.

By the end of 2014, Xiaomi had added in four other South and Southeast nations, including the potentially massive Indian and Indonesian markets.

There have been setbacks. Xiaomi is banned from sales in India as of December 11 due to an injunction related to patents. And its global rollout hasn’t got as far as anticipated in 2014, with markets like Brazil and Turkey postponed until next year.

Nonetheless, Xiaomi is set to reach its goal of selling 60 million phones this year.

3. Xiaomi gets people excited for a Chinese brand

Xiaomi isn’t the first Chinese brand to go overseas, of course. Lenovo, Huawei, and ZTE are already selling tens of millions of smartphones outside of China, but Xiaomi’s progress is still notable for a company that only made its first phone in 2011. Even more remarkable is that the company is, perhaps for the first time ever, getting people excited about a Chinese brand.