Chinese home appliance makers are rapidly integrating artificial intelligence into everyday products, transforming kitchens and living rooms at a pace that even Silicon Valley hadn’t foreseen.
At this year’s China Home Appliances & Consumer Electronics Expo (AWE), a Haier smart refrigerator stirred lively debate among European buyers. Equipped with a multimodal AI system, the unit can identify more than 2,000 ingredients, suggest low-calorie recipes based on personal health data, and even compile shopping lists from leftover items.
The transformation is clear: nearly 80% of the 1,200 exhibitors spotlight AI as their key selling point. Industry data shows that the global smart appliance market reached $120 billion in 2024—a year-on-year growth of 18%. AI is driving a fundamental shift from functional to cognitive competition in the industry.
At the expo, traditional boundaries were redrawn. Haier’s refrigerator uses cameras to assess food freshness and suggest recipes, while its washing machine automatically tailors cycles to fabric type and soil level, even flagging potential color bleeding issues.
Jiang Feng, Executive Director of the China Household Appliances Association, described AI as the “core fuel” powering the industry’s upgrade. Companies are moving beyond product-by-product competition to developing comprehensive, ecosystem-wide solutions. For example, Huawei’s HarmonyOS now connects cars, home appliances, and wearables—allowing a vehicle to remotely launch a robotic vacuum or preheat an oven as its owner approaches home.
Behind these advances is the tailored application of large AI models. Haier and TCL, for instance, have adapted general-purpose models like DeepSeek. Haier’s HomeGPT now leverages data on a scale of hundreds of millions of households to build a global smart home knowledge graph, while TCL has launched an innovative air conditioner featuring “DeepSeek Chat” technology.
Traditional TV makers such as Hisense and Changhong are also adopting DeepSeek to popularize AI-enabled televisions, and Gree is developing a dedicated smart home model based on similar large-model technology.
The AI revolution is also fueling whole-home automation. At AWE 2025, many exhibitors demonstrated integrated solutions spanning kitchens, living rooms, bedrooms, and bathrooms. Moreover, the convergence of appliance and robotics technology was evident: a robotic vacuum with a biomimetic, multi-jointed arm was showcased at ZhiMi Technology’s booth, evolving from a mere cleaning tool to an intelligent household assistant capable of organizing clutter and cleaning hard-to-reach areas.
As refrigerators “learn” to think, air conditioners extend their capabilities, and robotic assistants become an integral part of the home, China’s home appliance industry appears poised to usher in a new era of smart living. Yet, as companies explore the integration of large AI models with everyday products, the ultimate measure will be whether these innovations truly enhance human convenience while maintaining precise, practical functionality.