/PRZWT/At the 5.1H hall of the Consumer Goods exhibition area of the 8th China International Import Expo (hereinafter referred to as "CIIE"), Panasonic, a "full attendance" of the CIIE for eight consecutive years, showcased a washing machine with an elegant appearance and revolutionary functions on site, attracting the attention of a large number of visitors.
This is the "world's first four-cylinder full heat pump washing, drying and care integrated machine" Alpha G5, which Panasonic has showcased for the first time at the China International Import Expo. It not only features the industry's first four-drum synchronous washing and drying capability, but is also a "thinking" washing machine - equipped with an α-Agent intelligent core center composed of 76 intelligent chips, which can automatically identify the material of the clothes, analyze the composition of stains, and match the most suitable washing and drying parameters for each of the four drums with high-intelligence drive. It has also created 12 exclusive washing and care programs for different types of clothes.
/ Morning News/" This machine represents Panasonic's brand-new understanding of smart living. "" Panasonic staff removed the α-Watch smart control star ring from the machine body, and the working status of the four drums of the washing machine was fully under control. The α-Chat voice assistant based on natural language interaction enables users to control this machine with just a simple sentence and remotely adjust the washing, drying and care processes anytime and anywhere.
Panasonic has 60 legal entities in China, with its business scale accounting for 24.4% of the group's global total and its profits making up 30% of the group's global total. The debut of this product marks that Panasonic, a Japanese veteran company that has been in China for 47 years, is embracing the Chinese market with a positive attitude. At the 8th China International Import Expo, Tetsugo Honma, the global Vice President of Panasonic Holdings Co., Ltd. and the group's General representative for Northeast Asia in China, systematically announced Panasonic's AI strategy in China for the first time, proposing a new layout of "empowering both ends" from user scenarios to industrial infrastructure.
On the global stage of the China International Import Expo, AI has been elevated to the strategic height of Panasonic China in the country. Tetsuro Honma said that as the AI industry flourishes, Panasonic, a foreign enterprise deeply rooted in China, will seize the industrial opportunities.
The release of this strategy coincides with the period when China's AI industry is entering a period of rapid development. According to relevant plans in China, by 2025, the scale of China's artificial intelligence industry will exceed 450 billion yuan, driving the related industry scale to exceed 5 trillion yuan. Facing this huge market, Panasonic clearly does not want to miss out.
The core of Panasonic's AI strategy can be summarized as "empowerment at both ends" : One end focuses on directly serving users and scenarios, integrating AI capabilities into daily life and production scenarios through smart home appliances, Spaces, services and solutions equipped with AI technology. On the other end, it delves deeply into the underlying support of the AI industry, providing core components, key materials, and equipment for key devices of AI computing power.
"We are both the builders of AI applications and the behind-the-scenes supporters driving the development of the industry." " Tetsuro Honma summarized Panasonic's dual roles in the AI era.
Where does Panasonic's confidence in making efforts in AI come from
Panasonic's bold move to fully commit to AI at this time is not due to a momentary impulse, but rather based on its profound technological accumulation and talent layout in the Chinese market.
Many people may not know that Panasonic has accumulated decades of technological experience in the software field. Panasonic Software Development (Dalian) Co., LTD., as the largest overseas R&D center of the group, has 1,050 engineers and focuses on the development of smart home appliances, in-vehicle systems and other fields. In 2024, the company's operating revenue reached 309 million yuan, demonstrating a strong ability to commercialize technology.
What is more worthy of attention is that the small language model (SLM) independently developed by this research and development center not only maintains a high response speed within seconds but also operates stably in offline environments, completely solving the privacy and connection pain points of smart home appliances. This technological breakthrough provides significant support for the differentiated competition of Panasonic's AI home appliances.
Meanwhile, Panasonic Information Systems (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. has a technical team of nearly 500 people. Relying on a century of manufacturing experience, it provides over 120 comprehensive solutions for fields such as intelligent manufacturing and smart office. The company not only serves internal demands but also provides technical services to over a hundred other enterprises. In the fiscal year 2024, its revenue reached 400 million yuan and it was recognized as a "Multinational Regional Foreign-funded R&D Center" in Shanghai.
Panasonic's two major R&D bases in the north and south of China have established a solid foundation for its AI strategy in the country. Tetsuro Honma said, "The achievements of Panasonic's innovation are precisely due to Panasonic's strong local AI research and development capabilities in China."
In fact, Panasonic's layout in the field of AI has long been quietly underway. In terms of intelligent manufacturing, the company's logistics intelligent circulation system optimizes the layout of shelves through in-plant AI prediction models, and combines electronic maps and storage location data to calculate the shortest picking path, thereby increasing efficiency by 10%. Off-site intelligent matching of box-type vehicle models and generation of 3D loading solutions have increased loading efficiency by 12%. The visual AI solution serves as a "perception engine", achieving automated and intelligent production classification through real-time visual inspection of products on the production line, and making intelligent decisions such as full-process quality inspection of products and predictive maintenance of equipment.
These explorations not only accumulated valuable technical experience for Panasonic, but also verified the application value of AI technology in the industrial sector.
Currently, Panasonic has integrated large models such as DeepSeek and Alibaba Tongyi Qianwen into its internal system, covering the daily working scenarios of its employees. Panasonic China's "All-Staff AI" team is currently using the generative AI platform "Wuku", with applications covering multiple fields such as PPT generation, digital assistants, record-keeping, translation, and voice recognition. In the future, Panasonic plans to gradually expand from the basic AI applications in its functional business to more key business areas, achieving in-depth application and comprehensive empowerment in core business scenarios. This cultural transformation of "AI for all" ensures that Panasonic fully embraces intelligence not only at the product level but also at the organizational operation level.
Panasonic regards talent as the core driving force for the implementation of its AI strategy. Tetsuro Honma emphasized that among Panasonic's 50,000 employees in China, 10,000 are engaged in research and development work.
Why do Chinese consumers prefer AI
In the Chinese market, AI technology is evolving from "adding the finishing touch" to "providing timely assistance". Why are Chinese consumers so fond of AI home appliances?
The Panasonic Alpha G5 washing machine is a typical example. Chinese families usually face diverse laundry demands: adult outerwear and children's clothing need to be washed separately, high-end fabrics require professional care, and pet supplies need to be handled separately. The traditional solution is to purchase multiple devices or clean them in batches, while the four-cylinder synchronous processing capability of Alpha G5 compresses the process that originally required multiple operations into a one-time completion. Condensing a laundry room of approximately 5 square meters into the volume of a regular washing and drying set, the product slogan "One unit is one laundry room" precisely hits the pain point of Chinese urban families where space is limited and time is precious.
Panasonic's innovatively launched "1+N+X Home Smart Space System" also demonstrates the intelligent experience brought by AI. In the kitchen setting, the system can identify the types and preservation status of ingredients based on the AI camera of the refrigerator, automatically recommend recipes, and coordinate with devices such as ovens and microwave ovens to complete cooking. Users can activate the required scene with just one sentence, achieving a leap from command control to spatial collaboration. The 75-inch PX600C PRO smart voice TV can switch multiple functions in a room with just a simple "Hello Panasonic". Whether it's a game room, a cinema or a concert hall, the PX600C PRO can control them all with one device. This intelligent collaboration among devices precisely meets Chinese consumers' expectations for "whole-house intelligence". Industry data shows that the market size of smart home in China is expected to exceed 800 billion yuan by 2025, with a compound annual growth rate of over 15%.
In the Panasonic bedroom exhibition area, the Health space system significantly improves users' sleep quality by intelligently regulating light, temperature and air quality. Its health improvement effect is clear and perceptible, deeply touching Chinese consumers who pay attention to the quality of life.
Tetsuro Honma has long discovered that the unique appeal of the Chinese market lies not only in its huge scale but also in the fact that Chinese consumers are willing to embrace new concepts and technologies. He believes that compared with relatively conservative markets such as Japan, the United States and Europe, the changes in product color, shape and function in the Chinese market are more significant and rapid. This high acceptance of new technologies often enables the Chinese market to stay ahead of other countries and be the first to embrace new technologies.
Panasonic's product strategy in the Chinese market also reflects this feature. For instance, Panasonic's smart toilet seat cover, which is equipped with IoT technology and can be controlled via a mobile phone App, was first developed and launched in the Chinese market and became very popular there. At that time, the product had not yet been introduced to the Japanese market.
Panasonic is reshaping the industrial landscape with AI
In the industrial sector, Panasonic's AI layout is equally in-depth. The company has become a key supplier in the global AI server industry chain. Its conductive polymer capacitors, MEGTRON multi-layer substrate materials and other products have been highly recognized by the market. In 2024, the sales of capacitors for AI servers will double, and the sales of "MEGTRON" for information and communication infrastructure will increase by 70%. High-precision surface mount technology (SMT) placement machines, due to their high adaptability, effectively help customers significantly increase their production capacity. Panasonic has also achieved a sales growth of over 30% in this segment by providing key products such as servo motors and sensors to manufacture AI servers and their essential optical communication modules and other accessories.
To seize the opportunities in emerging markets such as AI servers, Panasonic is increasing its investment and layout in electronic material factories. In September 2023, the fourth factory of Panasonic Electronic Materials (Guangzhou) was put into operation with an investment of 790 million yuan. After its commissioning, the total production capacity increased by 1.35 times. The new project of Panasonic Electronic Materials (Suzhou) is scheduled to commence in October 2024, with an investment of 600 million yuan. It will build a 50,000-square-meter intelligent and green factory. The new factory of Panasonic Electronic Materials (Shanghai) has also started construction in September 2025, with an investment of 120 million yuan. Once it goes into production, its output value will double.
These investments not only expanded production capacity but also improved the semiconductor material supply chain within the region, providing a solid hardware foundation for the development of China's AI industry.
From a thinking washing machine to a smart home that can collaborate, and then to the key components that support the development of the AI industry - what Panasonic showcased at the 8th China International Import Expo was not only a series of innovative products, but also a clear path for the development of AI. The AI transformation of this established enterprise is in perfect harmony with the development cycle of China's AI industry.
Panasonic has always defined the China International Import Expo as a global strategic exhibition and has been actively responding to it with the full strength of the group. Panasonic is also continuously leveraging the "spillover effect" of the China International Import Expo to achieve the transformation of "exhibits into products, products into bestsellers, and ideas into reality". At this year's China International Import Expo, Panasonic's "empowerment from both ends" AI strategy is not only a deep commitment to the Chinese market but also a forward-looking layout for the global AI industry.
Looking to the future, Panasonic will further expand its production capacity, actively utilize the achievements of China's AI development, and continuously promote innovation. Tetsuro Honma made it clear.
"Boundless care, body and mind in joy" - Panasonic's brand promise has been endowed with new connotations in the AI era. When technology can understand people's needs and devices can predict people's expectations, the true intelligent life will begin.
