Gree Electric Appliances, Inc. of Zhuhai
Zhuhai, Guangdong
Few companies anywhere are as single-mindedly dominant in one product as Gree Electric is in room air conditioners: the Zhuhai-based company is the world's largest residential AC maker by volume, selling more than 20 million units a year. Founded in 1991 (with roots in a 1985 municipal factory), Gree rode China's air-conditioning boom to become a ¥200-billion-revenue industrial heavyweight.
What separates Gree from mere assemblers is vertical integration: it makes its own compressors, motors, and controllers through subsidiary Gree Compressor, giving it cost control and component quality that rivals who buy from third parties cannot match. Its Gree Tower and Kinghome lines are household names across China, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia, and its commercial HVAC equipment cools many of China's airports and data centers.
With about 82,000 employees, Gree has also pushed into smart devices, CNC machine tools, and industrial robots through its intelligent equipment division — a diversification aimed at reducing its dependence on the appliance cycle. For distributors, Gree remains what it has always been: the highest-volume air-conditioner supplier in the world, with the factory scale to back it up.
