Xiaomi's design chief Li Tianyuan to keynote FAMS 2026 in Seoul

Li Tianyuan, general manager of industrial design and chief designer at global electric vehicle manufacturer Xiaomi EV, will visit South Korea.

The FAMS 2026 Organizing Committee announced Friday that it has officially invited Li to deliver the opening keynote at the FAMS 2026 Main Forum, a business forum scheduled for June 30 at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Seoul.

Li is a globally recognized mobility designer who has successfully bridged the deep heritage of traditional automakers with a forward-looking IT ecosystem. He is particularly notable as the first Chinese automobile designer ever to join BMW — doing so in 2012 — and served as a senior exterior design specialist for the BMW i and M brands at the company's Munich research and development center.

He led the exterior design development of the flagship all-electric SUV BMW iX and spearheaded the design of the concept car BMW i Vision Circular, helping establish a next-generation design language for the brand.

In 2021, Li joined Xiaomi EV at its founding stage after an offer from Xiaomi Chairman Lei Jun. He built a global design team and oversaw the design process for the SU7 — the company's first electric sedan, which took the world by storm — and the next-generation SUV YU7.

In his keynote, Li is expected to present a vision for future mobility built on Xiaomi's proprietary operating system HyperOS, redefining vehicles not merely as a means of transportation but as "lifestyle spaces" that coexist with human life. He will also address trends in autonomous driving innovation underpinned by an advanced AI ecosystem.

FAMS 2026 is billed as Asia's most authoritative business forum on the present and future of the global mobility industry.

The FAMS 2026 Organizing Committee — led by Korea Herald, the Korea Future Eco-Friendly Mobility Service Association and the Korea University Intellectual Property Association — is preparing the event under the theme "Beyond the evolution of technology, toward sustainable inspiration for humanity."

The forum will be held June 30 at the international conference hall of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Seoul, with a range of official side events and business networking sessions also planned.

"This year's main forum will bring together the core leaders of the mobility ecosystem — global C-suite executives, government ministries and global venture capital firms," an organizing committee official said. "It will be a prime opportunity to hear survival strategies and a blueprint for the future mobility market from the driving force behind Xiaomi's design innovation, a true global game-changer."