We will admit, we’re stretching a bit here as the focus (for now) of this new plant is to produce air conditioning units, but it shows the intent of Xiaomi and also demonstrates a more important point.
This is a brand new, ground-up facility that Xiaomi says will be able to knock out an air conditioner unit every 6.5 seconds, which is staggering.
For us, it shows the value of efficient modern manufacturing facilities that a lot of the “old guard” can’t compete with, as the facilities they have tend to be old, cumbersome and nowhere near as efficient, therefore, more expensive and slower to operate and to produce appliances. And, it’s probably part of the reason that some European brands under Chinese ownership have moved production to China, as it’s just more efficient and cheaper.
China Daily (we know, not the most reliable but still…) reports that this ne factory spans over 750 mu (50 hectares) in its first phase with a total planned investment of over 2.5 billion yuan (£269 million), the facility integrates all sorts of advanced technologies to make it as efficient as possible.
Annual production capacity for air conditioners is said to be about 7 million units.
How accurate that the figures are as they are from China, say that recent industry reports indicate that the market size of the country’s smart home appliances reached about 756 billion yuan (£81 billion) in 2024, a year-on-year increase of 3%, and is expected to hit 793.8 billion (£85.5 billion) yuan this year.
No matter how you slice it and even if those numbers are off a little, that’s a lot!
