TCL's overseas expansion yields impressive results

Chinese home appliance heavyweight TCL said its overseas sales have expanded at a fast pace, which is set to help the company achieve its whole-year sales targets.

"We are expected to meet our operational targets and our profit level will rise this year, although I can't reveal the exact numbers," Chen Zhanyuan, deputy director of the Pan-smart Screen BU of TCL Industries, told a group of reporters visiting Guangdong on a media tour.

In the domestic market, about 6 million units of TCL pan-smart screen products — such as TVs, monitors, and other smart screens — are sold annually. This year, although the total sales in the Chinese market have edged down, TCL is expected to maintain a level of 6 million unit sales, Chen said, adding that hitting that goal will raise its market share.

Globally, a total of 30 million TCL pan-smart screen products are sold annually, with more than 70 percent of them sold in overseas markets. Chen said growth rates and market shares have been quite impressive in overseas markets. In Latin America, for example, year-on-year sales growth exceeds 40 percent.

In the coming five to 10 years, he said, the pan-smart screen market will remain fairly stable, without major expansion or contraction. Large-screen TVs will become more and more popular and the application of artificial intelligence technology will help improve the quality of those products.

Chen said TCL, a major producer of pan-smart screen products, which floated in Hong Kong , had encountered serious development challenges some years ago, but has managed to find its way out of the woods due to the group sticking to a quality-centered strategy and globalization drive.

It announced plans in March to establish a joint venture with Sony — in which TCL will hold a 51 percent stake and Sony 49 percent — to take over the latter's home entertainment business, covering the full chain from R&D to sales and customer service.

Data from market research institute AVC Revo show that global TV shipments reached 264 million units in 2025, with Samsung, TCL, Hisense, LG, and Xiaomi being the top five vendors. TCL's shipments surpassed 30 million units for the first time, narrowing its gap with Samsung to within 5 million units, according to the institute.