Hisense

Hisense traces its roots to a Qingdao radio factory founded in 1969; the present name and brand were settled in 1994. The group is majority state-owned and churns out televisions, white goods and air conditioners in enormous volumes, mostly under its own name but for years also as an anonymous contract manufacturer.

Its growth abroad has run through acquisitions: Hisense bought Toshiba's TV business in 2018, the Slovenian appliance maker Gorenje the same year, and licensed Sharp's TV brand in the Americas. Sponsoring the football World Cup and Euros made the name familiar in Europe faster than the products themselves managed to.