On the evening of August 28, 2025, Gree Electric Appliances,Inc.Of Zhuhai and Haier Electronics simultaneously released their half-year reports. This performance showdown between the "home appliance duopoly" not only reveals industry differentiation trends but also reflects two typical transformation and upgrade paths for Chinese manufacturing.

Against the backdrop of saturating air conditioning markets and sweeping intelligent transformation waves, the strategic choices and financial performance of these two companies provide excellent samples for observing changes in China's home appliance industry.

**I. Gree Electric Appliances: Balancing Cash Flow Improvement with Diversification Breakthrough**

**1. Strategic Transformation Behind Financial Data**

Gree's first-half total operating revenue reached 97.619 billion yuan, with net profit attributable to shareholders at 14.412 billion yuan. While the year-over-year growth rate of 1.95% appears modest, the operating cash flow of 28.329 billion yuan, surging 453.06% year-over-year, reveals a deep strategic shift from scale expansion to quality improvement.

This transformation is particularly crucial given the overall slowdown in air conditioning industry growth, with retail volume declining 3.2% year-over-year in the first half of 2025.

**2. Structural Breakthroughs in Diversified Businesses**

**Industrial Products Segment**: Revenue from core components including compressors and motors grew 27% year-over-year, with new energy specialized compressors achieving an 18% market share, demonstrating successful transformation from complete equipment manufacturing to technology output.

**Green Energy Sector**: Energy storage business revenue exceeded 3.5 billion yuan, with over 200 overseas commercial projects implementing light-storage-air systems, validating market acceptance of Gree's "zero-carbon smart park" solutions.

**Smart Equipment Breakthrough**: CNC machine tool orders increased 41% year-over-year, with five-axis linkage machining centers entering the new energy vehicle supply chain, marking vertical penetration from consumer electronics to industrial machinery.

**3. The Formula Behind Double-Digit Overseas Growth**

In the North American market, Gree reduced customized air conditioning delivery cycles to 30 days through "localized R&D + flexible production" models, improving 40% over industry averages. In Southeast Asian markets, leveraging integrated "refrigerator-washer-air conditioner" solutions, market share exceeded 15% in countries like Thailand and Malaysia.

This "regional differentiation + product integration" strategy effectively hedged against domestic market saturation risks.

**II. Haier Electronics: Global Dividends and Ecosystem Brand Premium**

**1. Leading in Both Scale and Profit**

Performance of 156.49 billion yuan in revenue and 12.03 billion yuan in net profit not only consolidated Haier's global home appliance leadership position (22.3% global market share in 2025 according to Euromonitor) but also demonstrated ecosystem brand strategy premium capabilities through 15.59% net profit growth.

Behind the stable 26.9% gross margin lies the synergistic effects of premium brand Casarte (revenue share increased to 31%) and scenario brand Sanyingniao (average order value up 28%).

**2. Capital Strategy Behind Mid-term Dividends**

The proposed dividend plan of 2.69 yuan per 10 shares, yielding 3.2% (based on August 28 closing prices), responds to investor demands for cash flow returns while demonstrating management confidence in long-term value. This "profit growth + shareholder returns" dual-drive approach creates differentiated advantages within A-share home appliance sectors.

**3. Deep Evolution of Global Operations**

**North American Market**: Synergies from the General Electric Appliances (GEA) acquisition continue releasing, with GEA net profit growing 22% year-over-year, becoming the number one brand in North American kitchen appliances market share.

**European Market**: Candy brand achieved over 10% market share in countries like Italy and Spain through "localized manufacturing + digital marketing" combinations, improving 5 percentage points from pre-acquisition levels.

**Emerging Markets**: Implementing "localized R&D + supply chain localization" dual-local strategies in India and Southeast Asia, air conditioning product localization rates reached 75%, significantly reducing tariff costs.

**III. Path Divergence: Professional Specialization vs. Ecosystem Expansion**

**1. Gree Model: Technology-Driven Vertical Integration**

From air conditioning core components to new energy equipment extension, Gree continues its "mastering core technology" DNA. This path's advantage lies in cumulative effects of technological barriers, but challenges include market education costs for emerging businesses. Data shows industrial products segment gross margin reached 32%, but scale proportion remains below 15%, requiring long-term observation of transformation effectiveness.

**2. Haier Model: User-Driven Ecosystem Expansion**

Through "products → scenarios → ecosystems" triple jump, Haier constructed an ecosystem covering home, logistics, health, and other sectors. This path's premium capability is reflected in financial data: Sanyingniao scenario solutions' average order value increased 2.8 times over single products, with ecosystem revenue accounting for 19%. However, ecosystem operation complexity also raises concerns about increased management costs (first-half sales expense ratio increased 1.2 percentage points year-over-year).

**IV. Industry Insights: Breaking Through in the Stock Era**

**1. Dual Construction of Technological and Ecosystem Barriers**

Gree's technological accumulation in core components like compressors and motors, combined with Haier's layout in IoT platforms and user data ecosystem resources, points to a trend: future competition will simultaneously test companies' "hard technology" and "soft connection" capabilities.

**2. Localized Deep Cultivation in Globalization 2.0 Era**

Both companies' overseas success stems from full-chain localization of "R&D-manufacturing-marketing." This enlightens the industry: simple product exports are no longer sustainable; value chain upgrades must be achieved through deep localization.

**3. Cash Flow Management Determines Transformation Resilience**

Gree's explosive operating cash flow growth provides ample ammunition for diversified layouts; Haier's stable cash flow supports ecosystem investments. Against the backdrop of generally declining industry profit margins (2025 first-half home appliance industry average net margin at 7.3%), cash flow quality will become a key variable determining transformation success or failure.

As Gree builds technological moats in industrial sectors and Haier creates ecosystem closed loops in consumer markets, these two companies' divergent paths epitomize the vivid footnote of China's home appliance industry upgrade. Under the dual drive of "dual carbon" goals and intelligent revolution, the white appliance industry is transitioning from scale competition to value creation competition. This half-year report reveals not just numerical changes, but a microscopic epic of China's leap from "Made in China" to "Created in China."