A few days ago, eight departments including the Ministry of Commerce jointly issued the “Implementation Opinions on Accelerating the Development of “Artificial Intelligence + Consumption” (hereinafter referred to as the “Opinions”), proposing 17 specific measures in five aspects, including improving “artificial intelligence + commodity consumption” and expanding “artificial intelligence + service consumption”.
Industry analysts believe that the home appliance industry, as the most mature consumer 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
Upgrading to 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 “replacement with new ones” have begun to form a superimposed effect with “replacement with smart devices.” When consumers replace home appliances, they can enjoy both old-for-new subsidies and targeted support for AI upgrades, and the purchase threshold has been substantially lowered.
Wang Wei, chair professor at Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, estimates 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 policy implementation comes from the technical reserves of the industry.
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 “Bosch Intelligent Hybrid Heat Pump Whole House Climate Comfort Solution” can monitor the outdoor climate around the clock, provide automatic feedback, and respond in a timely manner to indoor dynamics ranging from two to ten people.
From the perspective of market performance, according to data from Aowei Cloud and Guolian Securities, in the first quarter of 2026, in sharp contrast to the pressure on traditional home appliance categories, AI
The size of the 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 by more than 60%.
Research firm IDC predicts that China’s smart home market shipments will exceed 300 million units in 2026.
The whole-house intelligent system market is expected to reach 280 billion yuan, with a penetration rate exceeding 35%.
The maturity of the supply side and the activation of the demand side are forming a positive feedback.
AI has allowed 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 financial subsidies to lower purchase thresholds, AI technology to enhance product value, and ecological construction to expand consumption scenarios, the wave of intelligence in the home appliance industry will accelerate from high-end early adopters to universal adoption.
Smart life with “no housework” is no longer a marketing slogan, but a policy goal and industrial reality that is being fulfilled.
