After the explosive Alibaba U.S. IPO in 2014, another large Chinese company is eyeing up a potential public offering in the U.S. or Hong Kong this year.

This large Chinese company is Xiaomi, the smartphone manufacturer who for most of 2014 held the number one spot in Mainland China, losing only slightly in the fourth quarter to Apple.

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Xiaomi managed a 244 percent growth year-on-year in 2014, selling 23 million units in the fourth quarter and over 60 million units across the whole of 2014, more than LG, ZTE, Nokia and other established brands.

CEO Lei Jun claimed it would take them five years before they would be in a position to go public, back when he launched the company in 2010. If Jun sticks to his word, that means 2015 will be the year of the IPO.

Xiaomi is apparently still weighing up stock options, even with the huge launch of Alibaba in the West, over the past few months things have calmed down and Alibaba's stock has dropped from the US$110 high to US$85 current.

The Chinese company may feel more comfortable on the SEHK, instead of the larger gamble on the NYSE. However with the global launch coming this year or next, it might be worth getting on the NYSE for more coverage.

Xiaomi has a big 2015 ahead of them, launching in Russia, Brazil, Indonesia, Philippines and potentially Australia in the first half. This gives Xiaomi almost half a billion mobile users to potentially scoop up.

In the second half of 2015, we could see Xiaomi enter markets like Japan, Eastern Europe and the rest of South America. The United States could be an option-and the new rumor of a San Francisco event on February 12 points to that-but we should keep reservations since Xiaomi has said a U.S. launch in 2015 is off the cards.

Considering Xiaomi has already found success in India, with early sales surpassing 2 million, it seems likely that success will follow them into other regions.

TagsRedmi, Mi, IPO, Hong Kong, NYSE