Businesses around the world have evolved significantly since the 2000s, and this is especially true for technology companies. However, China has quickly overtaken the United States – whose manufacturing output has seen a significant decline since the mid-20th century – in terms of production capacity and prices of consumer technologies. Nowadays, Chinese companies like TCL produce high-quality products at prices that Western brands often struggle to compete with.
As AI data centers cause the prices of various consumer technologies to skyrocket, it can be hoped that China-based companies will be able to meet continued consumer demand at affordable prices, thereby contributing to the future stability of the global market. This is supported by a senior adviser to Samsung, Kye-hyun Kyung, who, during a speech at the Korea National Academy of Engineering Forum, claimed that Chinese companies’ investments in chip production could help lead the world out of the tech price crisis by the second half of 2027 (via Wccttech).
The most recent dent in the Western tech industry’s armor has been made by China’s electric vehicle industry, where brands like BYD have proven to be cheaper and better alternatives to American brands like Tesla. Of course, Chinese business interests extend beyond the electric vehicle sphere. So we’re going to look at some companies that are now owned – or historically have been owned – by Chinese stakeholders.
Lenovo
With offices around the world and a notable presence in the West, it’s not exactly common knowledge that Lenovo is a Chinese company. Originally called Legend, the company opened its first location in Beijing in 1984. The company played a vital role in the spread of computers across China, having been one of the first companies to develop “Chinese character cards” that allowed PCs to process the Chinese language without using too many resources. She produced her first computer in 1990, which she also nicknamed “Legend”. Now, in its fifth decade, Lenovo is introducing complex concept products designed to be powered by AI.
In 2003, the company known as Legend would become Lenovo. In 2005, it purchased IBM’s entire PC division, which included the long-running computer model known as the ThinkPad. This purchase would prove to be one of the most pivotal business decisions in the company’s history; in 2013, Lenovo had secured its place as the world’s leading PC supplier. Since 2025, it has maintained this enviable position in the global market, ahead of HP, Dell and even Apple in PC supplier shipments. In 2014, Lenovo also acquired IBM’s x86 server business, strengthening its corporate initiatives.
Lenovo has also acquired other companies around the world, including Motorola Mobility, to strengthen its current presence in the technology market. To this end, in 2026 it also bought the firmware business of Phoenix Technologies to bring development under its roof.
Motorola
Motorola is well known for its flip phones from the 2000s and, more recently, its popular Razr foldable smartphones. However, the company was once a manufacturing powerhouse that supplied microprocessors to major industry players like Apple, Atari, and Commodore. In 2011, the company was split into Motorola Solutions and Motorola Mobility, now Chinese-owned. The latter division was bought by Google in 2012 for $12.5 billion, but was then sold to Lenovo in 2014 for $2.91 billion, putting it under Chinese ownership. Motorola Solutions, which remains US-owned, provides security and IoT services for several applications, including oil and gas, water and wastewater, and even early warning systems.
Although it was a powerful brand in the past, Motorola has lost much of its relevance and position in the industry. Its phones from the 2010s didn’t make much of an impact on the global market, with Apple and Samsung dominating the landscape at the time. However, things started to change in the 2020s. Its lower-cost foldable smartphones, along with its line of budget smartphones, have made them popular in countries like Brazil, where it has around 30% smartphone market share.
Even though it is now a Lenovo company, Motorola is still based in the United States. That said, like most other phone manufacturers, its phones are manufactured and shipped outside of China. In fact, Lenovo was so supportive of the Motorola brand that the company eventually phased out other phone brands in favor of Motorola.
GE Appliances
Once one of America’s largest and most valuable companies, General Electric products were found in American homes everywhere. Radios, televisions, and kitchen appliances were the name of the game for the company, but at this point GE has a somewhat confusing history. Now divided into three companies – GE Aerospace, GE Vernova and GE HealthCare – GE no longer even owns its famous appliance division. The company sold it to a Chinese conglomerate, Haier, for $5.4 billion in 2016. Today, Haier has fully leaned into the appliance side of the tech industry. It focuses largely on products for home use, with recent launches including the Opal brand, which produces nugget ice makers.
Despite being Chinese, Haier presented GE Appliances as an all-American company. The company’s site features vaguely chauvinistic offerings for military and other U.S. government employees, embedded videos that seek to show how “American” manufacturing is, and a landing page with user interface elements that echo features of the American flag. However, the company also operates in India, Mexico, Puerto Rico, South Korea and, of course, China.
According to the Financial Times, Haier reported record earnings and profits of 302.35 billion Chinese yuan in 2025, which is equivalent to more than $44 billion in US dollars. Haier also said that GE Appliances successfully secured its “number one market position for the fourth consecutive year” in the North American market.
TCL
If you’ve walked into a Walmart, Best Buy, or any other store that sells TVs, you’ve probably noticed the TCL brand at some point. Although the Chinese major merged with Sony’s Bravia TV brand, it was already a heavyweight in the mid-range and budget TV verticals. Founded in 1981, the company has made serious progress in the television field in recent years.
Since 2003, TCL has acquired companies – or struck major deals – around the world to produce TVs. The same year, TCL managed to triple its television exports. In 2008, TCL became involved in the manufacturing of Samsung’s LCD televisions; between then and 2013, the company managed to become China’s leading LCD panel manufacturer, as well as the world’s third largest LCD panel manufacturer. It then partnered with Roku, which would eventually serve as the brains powering the software ecosystem that would help TCL move into smart TV manufacturing.
TCL even acquired some of Samsung’s assets in China, including LCD manufacturing and module factories. TCL also operates the Alcatel mobile brand, which manufactured BlackBerry-branded phones between 2016 and 2020. Its other business activities include the sale of air conditioning units in the United States.
Hisense
Hisense is another TV company whose devices you’ll likely see lined up alongside other mid-range TVs. The company has existed since 1969, but until 1993 it was known as Qingdao No. 2 Radio Factory. As with TCL, it also manufactures a range of products in different categories. However, televisions are its biggest business; As a result, Hisense ranked fourth in the world for manufacturing televisions.
As of 2024, Hisense has the second most installed TV operating system in the world, Vidaa, which is only surpassed in popularity by the South Korean operating system Tizen, created by Samsung. Vidaa is also used in Toshiba brand smart TVs, as well as TVs from other brands. In 2020, Hisense became the first company to produce an 8K TV supporting 10-bit color and HDR, effectively positioning China as a record-breaker and innovator in TV manufacturing. Before that, Hisense developed a transparent 3D TV in 2013, but the device was never released.
Just like most Chinese companies, Hisense operates worldwide, including a South African site to produce televisions and home appliances. It also owns and operates an 80-hectare facility in China, Hisense Information Industrial Park, in operation since 2001. In 2022, it also opened a site in Nuevo Leon, Mexico, for an initial investment of $260 million.
