A few days ago, the Ministry of Commerce and other eight departments jointly issued the “Implementation Opinions on Accelerating the Development of “Artificial Intelligence + Consumption”, proposing 17 specific measures in five major directions, including improving “artificial intelligence + commodity consumption” and expanding “artificial intelligence + service consumption”.
General analysis in the industry believes that the home appliance industry, as the most mature consumption scenario for the implementation of AI technology, is expected to become the primary beneficiary of this round of policy dividends.
Policy side: Trade-in and AI upgrades form a synergy
In terms of increasing commodity consumption, the “Opinions” focus on supporting the promotion of new generation artificial intelligence mobile phones, smart TVs, smart appliances and smart home products; in the field of service consumption, it is required to accelerate the popularization of smart sweeping robots, smart kitchens and bathrooms and other products, and study the inclusion of smart homes in the “Good House” construction guidelines.
It is worth noting that the policy clearly coordinates trade-in subsidies for consumer goods and fiscal interest discounts on personal consumption loans, and encourages local governments to independently formulate subsidy policies, focusing on smart terminal products.
This means that the fiscal funds originally driven by “replacing new ones” have begun to form a superimposed effect with “replacing smart appliances”. When consumers replace home appliances, they can not only enjoy trade-in subsidies, but also receive targeted support for AI upgrades, and the purchase threshold has been substantially lowered.
Experts in related fields estimate that after the policy is implemented, it can drive trillions of new consumption every year, and smart-related consumption will become the core incremental engine for stabilizing domestic demand.
Supply side: from “passive tool” to “active steward”
The confidence for the implementation of the policy comes from the sufficient technical reserves on the industry side.
At the 2026 China Home Appliances and Consumer Electronics Expo, the deep integration of AI and home appliances has become the main theme of the industry.
The “AI Eye 2.0” technology launched by Haier Smart Home allows the refrigerator to identify the storage status of ingredients, the oven to automatically recommend recipes, and the washing machine to understand vague instructions such as “just came back from the hospital” and match the washing program.
The smart hybrid heat pump whole-house climate comfort solution launched by Bosch can monitor the outdoor climate around the clock, provide automatic feedback, and respond promptly to indoor dynamics ranging from two to ten people, providing users with customized home environment adjustment services.
From the perspective of market performance, public industry data shows that in the first quarter of 2026, in sharp contrast to the pressure on traditional home appliance categories, the AI home appliance market soared 59.7% year-on-year, with sales exceeding 38 million units. Among them, AI refrigerators, AI integrated stoves, and AI sweeping robots all grew at a rate of over 60%.
Research firm IDC predicts that China’s smart home market shipments will exceed 300 million units in 2026, and the whole-house smart system market is expected to reach 280 billion yuan, with a penetration rate of over 35%.
The current maturity of the supply side and the activation of the demand side are forming a positive cycle.
AI technology allows home appliances to evolve from “passively responding to instructions” to “actively understanding needs.” The improvement in user experience in turn drives the willingness to replace new ones, and policy subsidies have significantly reduced the start-up costs of this cycle.
It is foreseeable that driven by the triple drive of fiscal subsidies lowering purchase thresholds, AI technology increasing product value, and ecological construction expanding consumption scenarios, the wave of intelligence in the home appliance industry will accelerate from high-end early adopters to universal adoption.
The “no housework” smart life that was once a marketing concept is no longer an unattainable imagination, but a policy goal and industry reality that is being realized. In the future, more consumers will enjoy the convenience that AI technology brings to home life.
