Hisense (海信) is a multinational electronics manufacturer based in China. It is a state-owned enterprise with publicly traded subsidiaries.
Hisense grew out of Qingdao No.2 Radio Factory, setup in September or December of 1969 by Qingdao governmental authorities. Hisense's first product was a radio sold under the brand Red Lantern.
Hisense manufactures white goods, televisions, set-top boxes, digital TV broadcasting equipment, mobile phones, Linux OS smart phones, wireless modules, wireless PC cards and optical components for the telecommunications and data communications industries.
Hisense sells under five brand names, including its own.
The brand name Kelon was chosen to because it was thought to imply meanings of imagination, a sense of science and technology and unlimited tactility. The orange and blue colors in the Kelon logo symbolize the unceasing vitality for progress and innovation and the company’s steady steps toward development, respectively. The logo was unveiled in September 2006.
The brand name Ronshen was chosen to because it was thought to imply meanings of high-quality, practical function, and popularity.
A home home appliance brand, from the eponymous English word.
A brand of commercial air-conditioners designed and manufactured by a joint venture of Hisense and Hitachi.
Hisense owns over 40 subsidiaries, both in and outside of China. Amore-or-less complete list can be found here. Another, more definitive, list can be found here.
Created in 1991 with the goal of establishing OEM contracts with foreign companies and exploring the global market.
Created in June or April of 2004, as a joint venture with Flextronics and located in Sarvar, Hisense Hungary Kft assembles and markets TVs in Europe. Initially, few of the products it manufactured were sold under the Hisense brand name, instead the production focus was on OEM products. As of 2009, the television plant has been shut down due to falling orders, and Hisense Hungary Kft operates with a staff of 13.
Created on April 28, 2001, and located in Jinan, Shangdong province, China, Hisense (Shandong) Information Technology Co Ltd is a major IT arm of the Hisense Group. Its focus is the development and marketing of security technology and intelligent traffic control products and software.
Founded in 1989, Hisense Intelligent Commercial Equipment Co Ltd manufactures, designs, markets and services point-of-sale machines (POS terminals), electronic cash registers and other specialized peripheral equipment for retailing, tax monitoring and finance. It is also responsible for R&D.
Established in 2005, Hisense Mobile Communications Technology Co Ltd has its roots in the Hisense Mobile Communications Research Institute, an R&D team created in 2000. Its products include mobile handsets, Linux OS smart phones, wireless modules, PC cards, and industry customized terminal products. It holds a total of 233 patents, 64 inventions and 116 software copyrights.
Established in April 1996, Hisense Optics has its roots in Qingdao Camera Co, a former subsidiary of Qingdao Electric Instrument Bureau, which in 1995 was facing bankruptcy when the government of Qingdao erased its debts and gave its assets to the Hisense Group, who renamed it Hisense Optics. It operates a remote control factory, a degaussing coil factory and an accessory parts factory. Products manufactured include remote controls, degaussing coils and injection molding parts. It may also produce, or did produce, optical instruments, cameras and telephones. It operates an injection molding workshop in Nancun town, Qingdao.
Created as a joint venture between Hisense, Ligent Photonics Inc, et. al. in 2003 Hisense Optoelectronics Technology Co Ltd develops fiber optic products, with R&D located in Chicago and Qingdao and production in Qingdao. It is responsible for marketing Ligent Photonics Inc products in Asia.
Hisense's first overseas subsidiary,it is a joint venture with South African bank NED. Hisense South Africa Development Enterprise Pty Ltd has a factory in South Africa and manufactures televisions and home-theatre equipment. It is also responsible for R&D and distribution to local retail outlets.
Hisense USA Co is a Georgia-based subsidiary whose aim is to gradually introduce Hisense products into North America and promote and market the Hisense brand throughout North America. Hisense USA will distribute products to retailers. It was founded in 2000 or 2001 and initially headquartered in Los Angeles. Currently it has locations in Gwinnett, Suwanee and unincorporated Gwinnett County, Georgia.
Established in 2002 as a joint venture with Hisense, Ligent Photonics Inc designs, develops and fabricates optical components for the telecommunications and data communications industries. Products are designed at its St Charles, Illinois headquarters and manufactured in China. Ligent Photonics Inc sells in North America, Europe and the Middle East through a network of sales representatives, and in Asia through Hisense Optoelectronics.
Hisense Communications Co Ltd endeavors to contribute to the fast development and prosperity of the Hisense communications business unit through product planning and marketing. It manufactures mobile phones and operates an R&D facility.Established in 2001, it has a technical cooperation effort with Qualcomm, and operates a four-story, 800,000 square-foot mobile phone production building in Hisense IT Industrial Park, 90 minutes from Qingdao.The Hisense C108 is the first mobile phone to use Qualcomm's biomimetic screen technology, Mirasol.
Hisense Electronics Technological Service Co Ltd was established in 2004, grew out of an internal Hisense department, the Information Technology Center, and provides all-round IT services for corporate clients.
Hisense provides property management services, as well as product design, mold design, pattern making and mold processing and manufacturing through Qingdao Hisense Property Management Co Ltd.
Created in 1995, Qingdao Hisense Real Estate Co Ltd's more than 40 completed developments include residential buildings, apartments, villas, townhouses, office buildings and large industrial parks in Shandong province.
Founded in October 1998, Hisense TransTech Co Ltd manufactures and markets electronics systems and monitoring solutions for urban traffic, public transport and logistics. Its products include self-adaptive traffic light control systems, traffic signal controllers, urban public security & traffic comprehensive information platforms, digital traffic violation video processing systems, intelligent public transport dispatch systems, the Hisense intelligent vehicular terminal, the Hisense mobile audio-visual intelligent vehicular terminal and intelligent public transport electronic stop signs. Its products are marketed under the HiCon, HiECS, HiATMP, and HiDVS brand names.
A joint venture between Guangdong Kelon (Rongsheng) Co Ltd, Xiwenjin Co Ltd and Luminous Industrial Ltd, Wuhu Ecan Motors Co Ltd produces electric motors for electromechanical devices, the information industry and for use in office automation. It is located in the Wuhu national high-tech and industry development zone.
Hisense owns 12 manufacturing parks worldwide, and operates a number of production bases.
Put into operation on September 28, 2007, Hisense Guangdong multimedia industrial base produces flat panel TVs, and is located in the Shunde District of the city of Foshan, Guangdong.
When completed at the end of 2009, Hisense's South African production base will manufacture televisions and white goods.
Created in 2001, and located in Qingdao, Shandong, Hisense Information Industrial Park is situated on 1,200 mu (80 hectares) of land. Hisense-Hitachi operates a commercial air-conditioning manufacturing facility in the park, and from 2007 a LCD TV module production line also calls the park home.
The Hisense Pingdu Home Appliance Industrial Park in Pingdu, Shangdong is home to Hisense Air Conditioning Co Ltd.
Encompassing over 200 acres, Hisense Yellow Island Information Product Manufacturing Park is one of the twelve industrial parks owned by Hisense.
A Hisense inverter-type/variable-frequency air-conditioner production base is located in Huzhou, Zhejiang, and was set-up on May 8, 2005. A joint venture between Hisense Air Conditioner Co Ltd and Zhejiang Xianke Air Conditioner Co, it is operated by subsidiary Hisense (Zhejiang) Air Conditioner Co Ltd and is composed of a 60,000 square meter factory on over 200 mu of land.
Beginning operations in 2005, Hisense's Nanjing, Jiangsu production base manufactures refrigerators, and is located in the Nanjing Xingang Economic and Technological Development Zone. The site's factory is 52000 square meters in size.
A Hisense Kelon refrigerator production base with a 36000 square meter factory is located in Chengdu, Sichuan.
In July 2008 Hisense entered into an agreement with Melbourne & Olympic Parks allowing them six-year naming rights to Hisense Arena, a Melbourne venue for spectator sports such as basketball, netball, dance sports, cycling, gymnastics and tennis. It is the first stadium in the world to be named after a Chinese company.
In May 2007, a Tibet mountaineering team sponsored by Kelon Air-Con erected a Kelon flag on Everest.
In China, Hisense has begun a relationship with the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics to set up an engineering postgraduate program approved by the Ministry of Education, and a collaboration with Peking University to set up an MBA remote education program.
