TCL opens Guangzhou AI factory, hits 100 million units

The intelligent AC base in the Greater Bay Area targets PHP 77 billion in output over five years.

Courtesy: TCL

New factory churns out one air conditioner every 7 seconds

TCL recently held its TCL Air Conditioner Guangzhou Base inauguration and 100 Million Units Milestone Ceremony in Nansha, Guangzhou.

With its world-leading AI smart manufacturing capabilities, zero-carbon operation philosophy, and full-scenario smart ecosystem, the company said that its TCL Air Conditioner Guangzhou Smart Manufacturing Base has become a new symbol of advanced manufacturing in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

It is reported that, as the factory with the highest single-base intelligent air conditioner manufacturing capacity in the Greater Bay Area, China, the TCL Air Conditioner Guangzhou Intelligent Manufacturing Base is expected to achieve an output value of CNY 3 billion or around PHP 23.1 billion in 2026 after its inauguration.

The next five years, it aims to exceed an output value of CNY 10 billion or around PHP 77 billion. The base and its ecological chain enterprises are expected to create over 10,000 jobs in total.

With the port advantage in the Greater Bay Area, the base will serve as a showcase for “Made in China” to go global and drive the development of related industry clusters, such as precision manufacturing, electronic components, and logistics and transportation, in the Greater Bay Area.

The TCL Air Conditioner Guangzhou Smart Manufacturing Base has a floor area of 303 mu, boasts three world-class, fully flexible dark factories, 15 advanced laboratories, 10 intelligent production lines, and ultra-high-ratio collaborative industrial robots. Based on its ultra-high data computing power, ultra-multi-axis machine automation, and ultra-strong AI intelligent agent collaboration platform, the park has an annual production capacity of 8 million units.

The facility operates at a pace of “one air conditioner every 7 seconds”. Based on the AI data supercomputing center with a computing power of 300 quintillion operations per second, this production line can undertake all-around data collection from the factory’s 17,000 IoT sensors efficiently and meet the real-time computing demand of 2,000+ AI agents.

The manufacturing base also has the world’s only AI-empowered intelligent ultra-high-precision heat exchanger production line. Through AI algorithms, it has created the world’s only fully automated and intelligent production line with one-flow full robotic arms for evaporator and condenser stamping, punching, and swelling, improving labor efficiency by 41.7 percent.

The three fully flexible dark factories achieve the round-the-clock dark production of evaporators and condensers, piping, and injection molding, and establish a full-process unmanned operation system with AI-based all-round control characterized by self-perception, self-decision-making, and self-scheduling, becoming a global benchmark intelligent production line for the manufacturing of core components of air conditioners.

Aside from its manufacturing capabilities, the TCL Air Conditioner Guangzhou Intelligent Manufacturing Base has also consistently adhered to green development. The park has achieved the full coverage of photovoltaics in 50,000 square meters and an equivalent scale of energy storage.

Through AI algorithms, it achieves the all-round intelligent allocation of energy and resources, with 6.9835 million kWh of generated energy, equivalent to saving 2,081 tons of standard coal annually.

Since 2021, TCL Air Conditioner has produced 100 million air conditioners in five years.

Currently, TCL Air Conditioner boasts an annual production capacity of over 38 million units, with products sold to over 160 countries and regions. It ranks among the top two in exports and the top three in global sales volume in the industry, making it a “leading player” in the global air conditioner industry.

With 'FreshIN smart health technology' at its core, TCL Air Conditioner has achieved a comprehensive upgrade from individual products to ecological and systematic solutions, the company said.

In addition, it has built full-chain AI capabilities of 'perception – awareness – decision-making – service,' realizing a value leap for air conditioners from perceiving the environment to understanding the demand, and from 'passive response' to 'active service'.

With this strategy, TCL Air Conditioner aims to double its production capacity in the next five years.

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