A TV screen shows the global hit video game “Black Myth: Wukong” at the Hisense booth during IFA Berlin 2024 on September 6, 2024 in Berlin, Germany.
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BEIJING – Chinese home appliance company Hisense is to become the No. 1 seller of televisions in the US in two years, Catherine Fang, president of Hisense International, told CNBC in an exclusive interview Monday.
In an effort to increase the brand in the US, the company last week became the first official partner of the FIFA Club World Cup that will start in Miami in June 2025. FIFA President Gianni Infantino, FIFA Secretary General Mattias Grafström, and Hisense Group Chairman Jia Shaoqian attended the event in Shanghai on October 30 to sign the partnership.
“We hope that through this sponsorship we can increase our market share,” Fang said in Mandarin, translated by CNBC. Sports events can burnish Hisense’s image as a premium brand, he added.
The company’s latest TVs use an in-house artificial intelligence chip to improve image rendering, Fang said, noting plans to increase the use of AI to improve audio quality, or provide athlete statistics via voice commands. The company was not immediately able to share whether the feature will be available on TV sets in the US
Hisense’s U8 55-inch TV series starts at around $700 in the US, while the 100-inch version costs around $3,000 or more.
In the second quarter, the company posted the second-highest number of TV sets in North America, after Samsung, according to research firm Counterpoint.
“Hisense and TCL, which have been focusing on normal LCD TVs, are trying to increase their market share by strengthening their portfolio of advanced TVs such as QD-LCD and LCD LED Mini,” said Counterpoint.
Hisense also sells home appliances such as refrigerators and washing machines, often referred to as white goods.
Fang said the company aims to become the top Chinese brand for the white goods in North America, as well in the next two years.
While China-based companies have been looking to relatively new overseas markets as growth at home has slowed, Hisense has been building a global business for decades.
Hisense generates half of its revenue outside China, with North America accounting for about 30% of overseas sales, Fang said.
