Xiaomi steps into cloud sector

Move expected to help put more mobile services on smartphones, analysts forecast

Chinese billionaire Lei Jun finally has found a major cloud service provider for Xiaomi Corp, the fast-growing smartphone startup he founded nearly five years ago.

Xiaomi and software company Kingsoft Co Ltd, both co-founded by Lei, on Wednesday said that they would invest $222 million in 21Vianet Group Inc, the largest carrier-neutral Internet data center service provider in China.