Haier Announces Sun Yingsha as Global Brand Ambassador, Accelerating AI-Powered Smart Living
Haier names Sun Yingsha as ambassador, using "Love Sasa, AI at Home" as a humanized expression of its AI smart home strategy.
On October 13, Haier announced Sun Yingsha as its global brand ambassador under the theme "Love Sasa, AI at Home"—ostensibly a marketing move, but essentially a statement of its AI lifestyle strategy. The article traces Haier's transformation: alongside 17 consecutive years as the world's top major appliance retailer by volume, it has earned Euromonitor's certification as the world's No. 1 smart home company by sales revenue, with growth shifting from individual hardware to holistic solutions. Its September "Renjia+" strategy, built on a Smart Home Agent, targets "zero household chores." Products span kitchen, balcony, living room, and bathroom, centered on proactive sensing and autonomous decision-making. As of H1 2026, Haier Smart Home has over 130 million registered users globally, supported by the dual Haismart and SmartHQ platforms.
Why a Brand Ambassador Deal Points to an AI Lifestyle Strategy
On October 13, Haier officially announced that table tennis player Sun Yingsha has become its global brand ambassador, with the collaboration themed "Love Sasa, AI at Home." One is an athlete who delivers consistently at the highest levels of competition; the other is a home appliance brand that has ranked first in global major appliance retail volume for 17 consecutive years. On the surface, this cross-industry partnership looks like a brand marketing move—but in essence, it is Haier's strategic statement redefining "smart home" in the AI era.
In its announcement, Haier emphasized that the foundation of the partnership is "a shared pursuit of dedication, innovation, and excellence." This phrasing deserves closer examination—it directly maps an athlete's competitive qualities onto the company's product philosophy, while also laying the logical groundwork for the subsequent "AI at Home" functional narrative.
The Path from "No. 1 in Appliances" to "No. 1 in Smart Home"
Behind 17 Consecutive Championships: What Is Haier Really Selling?
Haier has maintained the top spot in global major appliance retail volume for 17 consecutive years, while also earning Euromonitor International's certification as the "world's No. 1 smart home company by sales revenue." Taken together, these two data points show that Haier's growth engine has shifted from selling individual hardware products to delivering holistic smart home solutions.
The core logic of this transformation: users don't need a refrigerator or an air conditioner—they need a living environment that proactively understands their needs and delivers services in advance. Haier summarizes this direction as a leap "from global No. 1 in appliances to No. 1 in smart home," with AI as the key tool to achieve it.
Euromonitor International is a global independent market research firm headquartered in London. Its retail volume and sales revenue rankings are widely cited across the appliance and consumer goods industries as third-party validation of a company's strength. Haier's 17 consecutive years atop global major appliance retail volume are based on Euromonitor's annual statistical methodology; meanwhile, the designation "world's No. 1 smart home company by sales revenue" shifts the evaluation dimension from unit hardware sales to overall solution revenue. The two certifications appearing side by side effectively use the authority of the same institution to demonstrate one thing: Haier's revenue structure has shifted from selling products to selling scenarios, and systems and services beyond hardware are becoming primary growth drivers.
What Is the "Renjia+" Strategy Announced in September?
On September 21, Haier Smart Home released its "Renjia+" strategy built on its Smart Home Agent, targeting "zero household chores"—reducing the mental and physical energy users spend on domestic tasks through proactive AI services. The implementation logic of this strategy parallels Sun Yingsha's capabilities on the court: keen perception, proactive adaptation, and efficient coordination—three abilities equally critical in competitive sports and home scenarios.
Smart Home Agent refers to an intelligent agent that uses a large model as its decision-making hub, capable of cross-device appliance scheduling and proactive task execution. Unlike traditional voice assistants that can only respond to single commands, an Agent possesses perception, planning, memory, and tool-calling capabilities: it can synthesize refrigerator food inventory, user health data, and daily schedules to automatically generate recipes and coordinate oven preheating. The key to this architecture lies in breaking down the silos of individual product intelligence, enabling devices across different brands and categories to share a unified intent-understanding and task-orchestration capability. Haier uses this as the technological foundation of its "Renjia+" strategy, essentially integrating discrete devices in the home into a conversational, trustworthy service center.
AI Smart Home Product Matrix and Data Support
Haier's current AI smart home capabilities cover core living scenarios including the kitchen, balcony, living room, and bathroom:
- Kitchen: The Yunxi refrigerator uses full-space preservation technology, keeping fish and shrimp fresh and odor-free for up to 60 days; the W5000 dishwasher features Dual-Side Wash 2.0 technology
- Balcony: The Yunxi washer-dryer set features AI Direct Drive cleaning technology, which senses fabric types and automatically matches washing programs
- Living Room: The Comfort Wind air conditioner features AI human-sensing technology, maintaining comfortable room temperature while avoiding direct cold airflow; AI power-saving algorithms balance comfort and energy efficiency
- Bathroom: The Little Blue Bottle magnesium-free water heater replaces traditional magnesium rods with an AI purification core, blocking scale buildup at the source
The common feature of these product functions is "proactive service"—devices no longer passively wait for commands but make autonomous decisions based on sensor data. Haier summarizes this concept as "letting AI stay one step ahead," meaning service anticipates user concerns.
Supporting this ecosystem is Haier Smart Home's global user base. As of the first half of 2026, Haier Smart Home has accumulated over 130 million registered users worldwide. In China and Belt and Road countries and regions, the Haismart platform connects over 100 million devices, with over 16 million monthly active users and 7,100+ ecosystem resources; in the Americas, Europe, and Australia, the SmartHQ platform has over 5 million active users, 21 million+ connected products, and 6,500+ ecosystem resources.
AI Direct Drive cleaning technology: "Direct Drive" means the motor directly drives the washing machine drum without intermediate transmission structures like belts, reducing energy loss and mechanical wear while allowing rotation speed and direction to be controlled with per-revolution precision. It is precisely because the direct drive motor has this millisecond-level response capability that AI algorithms can adjust the wash curve in real time based on fabric type, load weight, and soil level, achieving a "sense—decide—execute" closed loop. Similar logic appears in the air conditioner's AI human sensing and the water heater's AI purification core: sensors first collect environmental data, then algorithms determine user intent, and finally hardware is driven to take differentiated actions. This "sensing + decision-making + execution" combination is Haier's universal paradigm for translating proactive service into concrete products.
How the Ambassador Strategy and AI Narrative Reinforce Each Other
Sun Yingsha was named to TIME's list of the world's 100 most influential sports figures this year, with a public image that combines competitive excellence and approachability. Haier's choice of her as global brand ambassador is essentially about finding a humanized vessel for the "AI at Home" positioning—translating technological capability into user-perceivable qualities of "dedication," "reliability," and "warmth."
From a brand communication perspective, the theme "Love Sasa, AI at Home" cleverly accomplishes two things: using "Love Sasa" to build emotional connection and "AI at Home" to carry the functional promise. Haier stated in its announcement that Sun Yingsha's dedication and positive attitude will resonate with Haier's understanding of family life, encouraging more users to participate in smart living experiences.
The Smart Home Race Enters the "Ecosystem Scale" Phase
The signal from Haier's ambassador announcement is clear: competition in AI smart homes has moved from individual product intelligence to ecosystem scale. 130 million registered users, over 100 million connected devices, 7,100+ ecosystem resources—these numbers form Haier's moat in the global smart home race.
Whether Sun Yingsha's addition can help Haier translate this technological advantage into broader user awareness remains to be seen. But what is certain is that on the path toward "zero household chores," Haier is no longer just selling appliances—it is selling an AI-driven living experience.
Background Notes
Understanding Haier's smart home layout also requires distinguishing the roles of the Haismart and SmartHQ platforms. Haismart primarily serves China and Belt and Road countries and regions, emphasizing localized ecosystem access; its 7,100+ ecosystem resources mean it not only connects Haier's own products but also opens interfaces to third-party services. SmartHQ targets the Americas, Europe, and Australia, with 5 million active users and 21 million+ connected products as its base, handling cloud management and value-added services for overseas installed devices. The dual-platform approach is a result of Haier responding to differences in data compliance, channel structures, and user habits across markets. The figure of 130 million global registered users is precisely the scale asset formed by combining statistics from both platforms—and it is Haier's most direct bargaining chip when competing with internet companies for the home entry point.
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