Guangdong Galanz Enterprises Co., Ltd.

Who owns Galanz?

Galanz is owned by Guangdong Galanz Enterprises Co., Ltd., a private company controlled by the founding Liang family. Chairman Liang Zhaoxian, son of founder Liang Qingde, leads the group.

Is Galanz publicly traded?

Galanz Group itself is privately held. Its controlled subsidiary Whirlpool (China) Co., Ltd. is listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange under ticker 600983 following Galanz's 2021 acquisition of a controlling stake.

Who founded Galanz?

Liang Qingde founded the company on September 28, 1978, in Shunde, Guangdong, originally as a duck down products business. It began microwave oven manufacturing in 1992.

Where is Galanz headquartered?

Galanz is headquartered in the Shunde district of Foshan city, Guangdong province, China, with production bases in Shunde and Zhongshan.

How big is Galanz?

Galanz employs more than 50,000 people and reported approximately 62.8 billion yuan in 2024 revenue. It produces roughly half of all microwave ovens sold worldwide and exports to nearly 200 countries.

Does Galanz own Whirlpool?

Galanz controls Whirlpool (China) Co., Ltd., the Shanghai-listed company that manufactures and sells Whirlpool-branded appliances in the Chinese market. It does not own the global Whirlpool Corporation, which remains an independent US public company.

Liang Qingde founded the enterprise on September 28, 1978, in Shunde, Guangdong, initially producing duck down textile products. The pivot to appliances came in 1992, when the company began manufacturing microwave ovens from scratch.

The microwave strategy combined vertical integration with aggressive pricing. By the mid-2000s, Galanz had led China's microwave market in sales and share for 12 consecutive years and had become the largest specialized microwave manufacturer in the world, a position built on production scale that let it serve both its own brand and OEM customers simultaneously.

Through the 2000s and 2010s, Galanz expanded into a full white goods portfolio covering air conditioning, refrigeration, laundry, and small appliances, while deepening export relationships. At its 2019 scale, it was producing roughly half of all microwave ovens sold globally.

Galanz moved into technology investment in 2019, announcing BF-Xiji, a proprietary IoT chip for appliances developed with partners, and committing to an open-source chip development base in Shunde. The most consequential corporate move came in 2021, when Galanz acquired a controlling stake in Whirlpool (China) Co., Ltd., the Shanghai-listed vehicle through which Whirlpool's appliance business operated in China. Galanz took control of the listed company and its manufacturing base.

Group revenue reached approximately 62.8 billion yuan in 2024, up about 12 percent year over year, with the microwave business contributing approximately 40.8 billion yuan. Employment exceeds 50,000 across production bases in Shunde and Zhongshan plus sales subsidiaries in Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Europe, and North America.

Galanz has faced periodic criticism over labor practices in its factories, common for Chinese manufacturers of its scale, and its products occasionally appear in import safety actions typical of the category. No major ongoing corporate controversy is documented. The Whirlpool China takeover attracted attention from US-China trade commentators given Whirlpool's American identity.