(Yicai Global) May 15 -- Xiaomi has rebutted a rumor that the Chinese smartphone giant plans big redundancies of older staff at its Wuhan headquarters.

“The recent information on social media platforms that only 10 percent of employees aged over 35 years in our Wuhan HQ may stay in the company is false,” Wang Hua, general manager of Xiaomi's public relations department, said on Weibo yesterday.

The online rumor claimed that Beijing-based Xiaomi would dismiss 90 percent of its Wuhan staff over the age of 35.

The company’s legal department has gathered evidence from the relevant information and reported it to the authorities, Wang added.

Xiaomi established its Wuhan HQ in 2017, aiming to have 10,000 employees and become a super-large research and development hub as well as a highland of artificial intelligence technology, according to founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Lei Jun.

In December, staff claimed that Xiaomi planned to shed nearly 6,000 employees, equal to about 20 percent of the company's total headcount. The firm later confirmed that some staff were let go, but not on such as large scale.

Xiaomi's ranks fell 8.6 percent to 32,543 at the end of last year from the end of the third quarter, the company said in its earning report last month. Some 2,642 people were let go in China.

The layoffs are likely driven by Xiaomi's softer earnings performance. Net profit plunged 87 percent to CNY2.5 billion (USD359 million) last year from 2021 as the overall smartphone market declined, its earnings report showed. Revenue fell 15 percent to CNY280 billion (USD40.1 billion).

Editor: Dou Shicong, Martin Kadiev