Chinese consumer electronics giant TCL Corp is bullish on the prospects of domestic air conditioners market, which enjoy great development potential, as the annual sales of its air conditioners have surpassed 10 million units.

“TCL has achieved eight consecutive years of rapid growth and is the fastest growing enterprise in the air conditioner industry. We will strengthen internal synergy and external cooperation, as well as merger and acquisition in the future,” said Li Shubin, vice-president of TCL.

In the past three years, TCL has spent more than 500 million yuan $76.4 million) on the R&D of air conditioners, and invested 220 million yuan in this area in 2016. Currently, its air conditioning unit holds 1,842 independent intellectual property rights, including 297 patents.

The company will continue to offer intelligent and customized air conditioners next year to meet the consumption upgrading. Its sales are expected to reach 15 million units within three years.

With the advent of 5G era, air conditioners will be incorporated into the whole household intelligent system, and will not exist alone. The intelligent air conditioners should possess such functions as “self-learning, self-adaption, self-diagnosis and self-correcting”, according to TCL.

“Every Chinese household owns 43.8 units of air conditioners, while each urban family has 124 units. In Japan, every household owns 272 units of air conditioners, so China's air conditioner market still has a lot of room to grow,” said Yang jie, general manager of industry analyst ChinaIOL, adding the rural and urban market show different demand characteristics.

“You can see the consumption upgrading is the theme in cities, but there is a necessity to introduce air conditioners to residents in rural areas,” Yang added.