Hisense

Hisense is a Chinese multinational electronics manufacturer founded in 1969, headquartered in Qingdao, China. Hisense is the world's largest television manufacturer by shipment volume and owns five publicly listed companies. The company trades on Shanghai Stock Exchange (600060) and reported 2026 annual revenue of $763.7 million. Hisense manufactures televisions, home appliances, and consumer electronics under brands including Hisense, Toshiba, Gorenje, Sharp, and Asko.

Hisense traces its origins to the Qingdao Number 2 Radio Factory, established in September 1969. The small factory's first product was a radio sold under the brand name Red Lantern, but the company later gained television manufacturing expertise through a trial-production of black and white televisions ordered by the Shandong National Defense Office. This involved technical training of three employees at another Chinese factory, Tianjin 712, resulting in the production of 82 televisions by 1971 and the development of transistor TVs by 1975. Hisense's first TV model, the CJD18, was produced in 1978.

Television production in China was limited until 1979, but a meeting of the Ministry of Electronics in Beijing concluded with calls for greater development of the civil-use electronics industry. Qingdao Number 2 Radio Factory was then merged with other local electronics makers and manufactured televisions under the name Qingdao General Television Factory in Shandong province.

The Hisense Group emerged in 1994 following radical changes initiated in 1992 by then-president Zhou Houjian. The Hisense Electrical Appliance Share Holding Company (now Hisense Electrical Co Ltd) was publicly listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange in April 1997. Increased competition and price wars in the Chinese electronics market in the 1990s benefited Hisense, which gained ten failing enterprises by 1998.

Eager to expand beyond consumer electronics, Hisense Group aimed to become a regional leader in household appliances, computers, and communications. This strategy prompted significant capital outlays on R&D and the creation of industrial parks. Aware of limitations in its own technology, Hisense opted to purchase technology from various companies including Matsushita, Hitachi, Lucent, NEC, Sanyo, Toshiba, and Qualcomm.

In 2005, Hisense developed a digital media processing chip named "HiView" for color television sets. In 2013, Hisense invented a type of transparent 3D television. In July 2015, Hisense bought a Mexico facility from Sharp for $23.7 million alongside rights to use the Sharp brand on televisions sold in North and South America. In November 2017, Hisense announced it would gain a 95% controlling stake in Toshiba Visual Solutions for US$113 million. In 2018, Hisense became the majority shareholder in Slovenian appliance manufacturer Gorenje with 95.4% of shares.

In 2020, Hisense introduced the world's first 8K 10 bit HDR screen TV based on an AI-powered HDR algorithm and an image quality engine claiming 6.5T supercomputing power. In May 2022, Hisense announced the launch of the company's first 4K Fire TV. In 2026, Hisense continues to innovate with the UR9 and UR8 series announced at CES 2026, bringing RGB Mini-LED to smaller screen sizes (55-100 inches), making this cutting-edge technology more accessible. The company has developed proprietary image processing chips in-house and its premium models genuinely compete with TVs costing 30-50% more.