(Yicai) March 16 -- This year's Appliance and Electronics World Expo in Shanghai was more focused on the practical applications of artificial intelligence than home appliances, with service robots, 3D printers, AI cooking glasses, and AI mobile air conditioners taking center stage.

"Home Appliances + AI" and "Home Appliances + Robotics" were the focal points of discussions and displays at the four-day AWE, which ended yesterday. The event attracted a record number of foreign buyers, with many coming specially to see innovative Chinese products.

Haier Group showed a variety of home service robots and smart refrigerators that analyze ingredients using AI, Midea Group unveiled an air machine that activates fresh air intake when carbon dioxide levels are too high, developed in collaboration with Huawei Technologies' HarmonyOS, and Dreame Technology displayed a vacuum cleaner equipped with a dual-level bionic robotic arm as well as a floor washer with an edge-cleaning probe arm. In addition, Mova showed its AI mobile air-con.

AI should not be merely a gimmick to attract consumers, but rather a driving force for consumers to upgrade to new products, an industry veteran said to Yicai. "We look forward to more uses of AI in home appliances, bringing a new era of rapid growth to the Chinese market."

The overall growth of the global home appliance market is slow, which has led the Chinese market to shift to a user-driven model from a manufacturer and channel-driven model, He Jinming, vice president of big data platform AVC, told Yicai. Companies should treat the integration of AI into their products as a crucial competitive strategy, He added.

Due to multiple factors, including the sluggish real estate market, China's home appliance retail sales, excluding 3C (computers, communications, and consumer) products, fell 4.3 percent to CNY893.1 billion (USD129.4 billion) last year from 2024, according to AVC. The figure in the split-type household air-con market dropped 0.4 percent to CNY235.7 billion and is expected to decline to CNY219.5 billion this year.

"By incorporating large language model computing, modern televisions can recognize and analyze the preferences of different family members, enabling them to proactively serve users by recommending more suitable content," Weng Zhenhua, assistant president and general manager of the consumer electronics division at AVC, told Yicai. Using AI chips as the "brain" of TVs has become a key competitive focus among major brands, making smarter and more convenient interactions, along with better alignment with user scenarios, crucial for future demand, Weng added.

"AI is restructuring the entire supply chain of the home appliance industry," He pointed out, noting that the upgrade directions for AI-powered air-cons include providing new intelligent capabilities, including energy efficiency, comfortable airflow, smart voice interaction, and healthy air.

The penetration rate of comfortable airflow smart air-cons in China's home market was 26 percent online and 23 percent offline last year, while that for offline smart wall-mounted air-cons was 10 percent and for floor-standing units was 8 percent, AVC data showed. The rate for smart refrigerators with precise temperature control and energy optimization exceeded 57 percent online.

Mova's AI mobile air-con features tech such as laser radar that records user habits to provide proactive services, Yang Xiangwen, head of the firm's air-con segment, said to Yicai. The product will likely first launch in the European and American markets, where artificial installation costs are higher, before gradually expanding to other regions, Yang added.

Foreign brands are also optimistic about the market opportunities for AI home appliances in China.

"We are expanding the application of AI tech in our products," Masaharu Nakayama, chief strategy officer of Panasonic Holdings and president of Northeast Asia operations, told Yicai. The Japanese firm's strategy in China has evolved from "In China, For China" to "In China, For the World," he noted.

Panasonic plans to push its innovative AI home appliances developed in China to overseas markets, aiming to double the share of home appliance revenue from Asia, excluding China and Japan, within its Northeast Asia operations to 20 percent in three years, Nakayama said.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Martin Kadiev