It’s fitting that the recent launch of one of the world’s most cutting-edge TVs took place in an industrial park outside Cape Town. This was no ordinary manufacturing zone, but an advanced 100,000 sq metre Hisense South Africa industrial park that saw the launch of the 110in ULED X and the high-tech U8 range. It was also symbolic of the brand’s stellar rise as an international consumer electronics powerhouse.
Set up in 2013, the site not only manufactures Hisense TVs and refrigerators, exporting as far afield as the UK, it has also had a significant impact on the economic opportunities for the region, from job creation to training courses for local youth. It’s perhaps no coincidence that Hisense is also one of the top-selling TV brands in South Africa.
For Jerry Liu, vice-president of Hisense International, this is the culmination of a concerted, all-round effort to invest in and grow the South African market. “We strongly believe in the power of employing and retaining the best local talent in improving the whole organisation,” says Liu. “For many years we have continuously invested in local executives, experts, to help build a highly localised professional operations team. It has enhanced the Hisense brand affinity locally and helped with rapid and strong growth.”
The rise of South Africa as a technology base (pdf) and a regional economic model is reflective of Hisense’s own journey and philosophy. Hisense, which traces its roots back to radio manufacturing, now has more than 100,000 employees, 23 R&D centres around the world, offices spanning Germany, the UK, Canada, Japan and Dubai, among others, and it exports to more than 160 countries or regions.
Last year, Hisense became the second-largest TV manufacturer in the world by shipping volume share. As well as TVs, it produces next-generation household goods, such as smart dishwashers, cookers, refrigerators and air-conditioning units. It also sponsors global sporting events, most recently announcing a multi-year deal with Uefa starting with next year’s Euros.
As one of the earliest Chinese companies to actively pursue an internationalisation strategy, Hisense is a microcosm of the fundamental shift in China’s technology and industrial policy over recent decades: rising from importer and assembler to manufacturer and innovator.
“It was only from the mid-2000s that product quality and research intensity began to be taken really seriously,” says Dr Jonathan Liebenau, a reader in technology management at the London School of Economics. “For many such companies, it took over a dozen years of concerted investment in R&D capacity to bring their products to state of the art.”
In the UK, Hisense has certainly become a brand to take notice of over the past decade, says Waseem Mirza, a former BBC presenter and host of The FutureTECH Show podcast. “Hisense found its niche very quickly without sacrificing high-end features. It’s becoming known as the premier challenger brand because of the quality of its products.”
The technical specs of Hisense TVs are impressive on their own, too. At the 2022 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) show in Las Vegas, for example, the brand introduced its mini LED technology, which provides deeper blacks and improved contrast. “That technology is now already on the global market,” says Mirza. “CES was famous for showing off pie-in-the-sky projects, with a five to 10-year wait before we saw those technologies reach the home. Hisense has pushed that timescale down to a little over a year, which is unheard of.”
Blistering innovation may make for good headlines, but behind the scenes, achieving greater sustainability is an equally vital metric. “Hisense has integrated energy saving and carbon reduction into the whole process of technology innovation, quality, supply chain and intelligent manufacturing management,” says Liu. “We are now achieving lower product energy consumption, lower demand for production resources, lower consumption of raw materials, and lower recycling costs.”
In 2021 Hisense was praised by the UN Development Programme for its refrigerator foaming technology, which improves efficiency and lowers greenhouse gas emissions. The company has reduced the energy consumption of its TVs by 25%, and is investing significantly in solar power at its manufacturing sites. And this year, Hisense Europe won a silver accreditation award from the business sustainability ratings provider EcoVadis, in recognition of its ongoing efforts to minimise its impact on the planet.
At this year’s IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin, the president of Hisense Group Fisher Yu presented his vision for the future of a more connected home. “AI tech has changed how we interact with machines,” said Yu. “Consumers are demanding more intelligent and user-friendly products and services.”
With an enviable track record of success – from the industrial parks of South Africa to the bright lights of Las Vegas, via living rooms and kitchens all over the world – Hisense is determined to be one of the brands making that future a reality.
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