# Fight Back in Four Years! TCL Smart Home: From Losses to 1.1 Billion Annual Earnings

Ask AI · How can ODM and OBM models collaborate to enhance profitability?

Overseas markets are booming, while domestic markets remain under pressure.

Author | Mu Yu

Editor | Xiao Bai

By 2025, the global home appliance industry will face challenges such as high tariffs and a stabilized overall output.

According to data from the National Household Appliance Industry Information Center, in 2025, China’s domestic home appliance market size will be 846.1 billion yuan, a slight decrease of 0.1% year-on-year; customs data shows that total home appliance exports will be 688.85 billion yuan, down 3.9% year-on-year.

TCL Smart Home (002668.SZ) delivered a solid 2025 annual report: total revenue of 18.531 billion yuan, up 0.93%; net profit attributable to the parent of 1.123 billion yuan, up 10.22%.

How has TCL Smart Home achieved growth amid these changes, and what challenges does it face?

Nearly delisted, rescued by TCL with 3 billion yuan

The company’s predecessor was Aoma Electric, which faced huge losses in 2018 and 2020, once falling into the “ST stock” category. In 2021, TCL Home Appliance Group increased its holdings and made a tender offer on the secondary market, acquiring control of the company with a total cash consideration of about 3.035 billion yuan.

After Li Dongsheng took control, he began divesting financial businesses,承担约3亿元的隐性债务, returning focus to refrigerator core business, and acquiring TCL’s Hefei home appliance assets to address industry competition issues. In May 2024, the company officially renamed itself “TCL Smart Home.”

Currently, TCL Smart Home’s business structure is “ODM + OBM,” with two core subsidiaries each playing their roles. Oma Refrigerators remains a “global professional refrigerator ODM supplier,” continuing OEM operations. TCL Hefei Home Appliances focuses on the "TCL"自主品牌, mainly mid-to-high-end refrigerators and washing machines.

Overseas markets are booming, domestic markets under pressure

In the past four years, TCL Smart Home has transformed from a near-delisting company to a leading export enterprise with four consecutive years of double-digit profit growth.

According to the 2025 annual report, the company achieved operating revenue of 18.531 billion yuan, up 0.93%; net profit attributable to the parent of 1.123 billion yuan, up 10.22%; net cash flow from operating activities of 2.545 billion yuan; free cash flow of 1.76 billion yuan.

Regionally, overseas business is the biggest highlight. The revenue from its own brand overseas operations grew by 115%, reaching 14.4 billion yuan in 2025, a 6.74% increase. Leveraging TCL’s status as a global Olympic partner has significantly boosted international brand promotion, helping shift away from a “cost-performance” label toward a higher-end image.

In February 2025, TCL officially became a global Olympic partner, providing top-tier sports marketing resources that strongly support brand promotion and facilitate high-end transformation.

(Source: TCL Smart Home 2025 Annual Report)

Additionally, emerging markets in the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America hold significant potential. While maintaining existing European markets, TCL Smart Home is actively expanding into Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and along the Belt and Road.

In 2025, China exported 9.31 million refrigerators to Africa, a 36.1% increase; 13.22 million units to South America, up 16%. Exports to Europe and North America were 22.96 million and 11.73 million units respectively, both declining year-on-year.

Similarly, washing machine exports to Africa reached 2.69 million units, up 30.8%; to South America, 3.94 million units, up 36.0%; total exports of 12.98 million units, up 19.9%; North American exports declined.

In stark contrast, domestic business faced significant pressure in 2025, with revenue of 4.1 billion yuan, down 15.2%.

The decline in domestic sales is due to multiple factors. First, macroeconomic factors such as weak domestic demand; in 2025, the overall growth rate of China’s refrigerator and washing machine markets slowed, with intensified price competition. Refrigerator and freezer sales totaled 140.15 million units, up only 1.5%; washing machine sales reached 96.27 million units, up 7.1%.

More critically, changes in market competition patterns—major white goods players like Haier, Midea, and Hisense squeezing market share in mid-to-high-end segments, and cross-industry entrants like Xiaomi and Huawei penetrating the home appliance sector through ecosystem models—pose challenges. The company still has room to improve in domestic channel development and brand promotion.

In recent years, overseas business has been the main growth driver, with continuous revenue increases since 2023. Meanwhile, revenue in mainland China has been decreasing, and overseas markets generally enjoy higher profit margins.

(Source: Choice Data)

OEM as a foundation, brand as a growth driver

Product-wise, refrigerators and freezers remain the mainstay.

In 2025, Oma Refrigerators sold 16.82 million units, ranking first in China’s refrigerator export volume for 17 consecutive years and first in Europe for 18 years.

Among the top ten countries for refrigerator exports, Oma Refrigerators held the largest market share in Japan, the UK, France, Italy, and Canada, and ranked second or third in Germany, Brazil, and Australia.

In 2025, TCL Hefei Home Appliances sold 3.58 million washing machines, a 37.5% increase year-on-year. According to industry data, TCL brand refrigerators and washing machines remain among the top five in China, with a second-place market share in the embedded refrigerator segment.

TCL Smart Home has introduced new technologies and products, such as multi-effect microenvironment control for refrigeration, new biomimetic wing-type condenser technology, “Ice Kirin” ultra-cold freezers, 520PLUS colorful mother-and-baby refrigerators, and dual-magnetic fresh refrigerators.

High-end product development is reflected in performance.

Product structure optimization, with increased proportions of mid-to-high-end large-capacity and风冷产品, has driven overall gross profit margin growth, reaching 25.23% in 2025, up 2.2 percentage points from 2024.

Capacity expansion also made significant progress in 2025.

Oma Refrigerators’ “annual production of 2.8 million high-end风冷冰箱智能制造项目” was fully operational, with Hefei home appliance supporting factories completed. The Thailand manufacturing base is also steadily advancing, with an expected additional capacity of 1.4 million refrigerators and 300,000 freezers, forming a localized production network covering Southeast Asia and Africa alongside factories in Vietnam and Egypt.

Although TCL Smart Home still lags behind giants like Haier, Midea, and Hisense in scale, and faces competition from Korean brands and Xingxing in the ODM sector, it has its own profitable model: stable ODM core, with OBM enhancing premium pricing.

Overall, TCL Smart Home currently maintains stable OEM operations, seeks growth through brand internationalization, and is rapidly expanding overseas, while domestic strategies need further refinement.

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