TCL Founder and Chairman Li Dongsheng: The rules related to globalization are changing, and Chinese companies need to readjust their globalization strategies.

Each Daily Reporter | Rui Zhang Each Daily Editor | Junjie Chen

From March 22 to 23, the China Development Forum 2026 annual meeting will be held at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing.

Li Dongsheng, founder and chairman of TCL, made a statement at the “Special Symposium on Technological Innovation and the Development of Future Industries,” focusing on how to promote the transformation of cutting-edge technologies into real productive forces, deepen international cooperation, and build a modern industrial system.

During the annual meeting, Li Dongsheng accepted media interviews, including one with a reporter from the 《Economic Daily News》.

Li Dongsheng said that as a traditional consumer electronics and home appliances company, TCL has opened up many new tracks in advanced manufacturing. Currently, it mainly focuses on four industrial tracks: intelligent terminals, semiconductor displays, photovoltaic new energy, and semiconductor materials.

“We have set aggressive and enterprising goals across all four tracks. This year, our growth targets in each industrial sector are double-digit.” He said that growth momentum comes from two areas: first, product technological innovation; and second, expanding overseas business.

He mentioned that this year’s operations have started on a good note, with strong growth in business during the first two months. But in March, the impact of the situation in the Middle East on the market began to show, and more challenges will lie ahead in the future. “But we are fully confident in achieving this year’s growth targets.”

Li Dongsheng Provided photo by the host

In capital-intensive, long-cycle tracks, hope for a more relaxed financing environment

The 2026 《Government Work Report》 sets the economic growth target in the range of 4.5% to 5%, and in Li Dongsheng’s view, this is fairly reasonable and achievable.

He said that China’s future economic development must maintain appropriate growth, while paying more attention to the quality of growth. In recent years, we have been emphasizing high-quality development. Whether for the country or for enterprises, development quality is more important than scale.

When discussing China’s economic growth potential, Li Dongsheng believes it mainly comes from two aspects: first, the incremental growth in new products, new technologies, and new markets brought by innovation-driven development. For example, the application of artificial intelligence technology will bring huge economic growth opportunities; second, the development of the service sector. Compared with developed economies, China still has a great amount of room for growth in the service sector. In particular, by driving growth in related service industries through technological innovation and new product introductions.

From the perspective of enterprises, which policies are expected to be introduced to unlock these potentials?

In response, Li Dongsheng said that as an advanced manufacturing enterprise, TCL’s industrial tracks have the characteristics of high technology, heavy assets, and long cycles. The main driving forces for enterprise development come from two areas: first, technological innovation driven, mainly relying on the company’s own investment and accumulation; second, capital driven, with the hope for a more relaxed financing environment. In these heavy-asset, long-cycle tracks, companies continuously need large capital投入. Most Chinese enterprises are currently in the accumulation stage, and how to obtain a better financing environment is a direct prerequisite for the development of advanced manufacturing industries.

When talking about TCL’s potential, Li Dongsheng mentioned that for us, future growth will come from two areas: first, by improving advanced manufacturing capabilities, driving product technological innovation and market growth; second, expanding globally. “The Chinese market is big, but the global market is bigger.” He said that against the backdrop of the reconfiguration of the new global trade and investment landscape, how Chinese companies adapt to changes in the global economic globalization landscape, formulate better development strategies, and promote a more effective global business layout—this is our most important growth point for the future. In the past few years, TCL’s overseas business growth has reached 15%, higher than the growth rate of domestic business. We are confident that this growth trend can continue.

There is still substantial room to improve the supply of film and television content and high-definition display content

Regarding the currently ongoing turbulence in the international situation, Li Dongsheng frankly acknowledged that there are indeed concerns about overseas business. The global market has been changing, and the situation in the Middle East has had a major impact. But companies cannot change the broader environment; they can only adapt to the changing environment and do their own work. “Although affected by various factors, we are confident in achieving this year’s overseas business growth targets.”

In his remarks, Li Dongsheng said that at present, global competition and cooperation in technology are intertwined. Although the geopolitical environment is complex, business should be a common language among countries.

He said that China’s economic globalization process still has huge potential. As economic entities, enterprises should also proactively expand foreign investment and international cooperation. Against this backdrop, enterprises should also achieve a globalization transformation—moving into the globalization 3.0 stage. From exporting products to co-building industrial capabilities, rooting overseas, integrating into local communities, and enhancing global resource allocation capabilities.

When asked about enterprises’ going global amid the current international situation, Li Dongsheng told a reporter from 《Economic Daily News》 that rules related to globalization are undergoing some changes. For Chinese companies, they need to adapt to these rule changes and re-optimize their globalization strategy.

This year’s 《Government Work Report》 proposes arranging RMB 250 billion in ultra-long-term special government bonds to support replacing old consumer goods with new ones, and optimizing the policy implementation mechanism. Li Dongsheng believes that this policy will have a direct effect in stimulating domestic market demand growth.

Regarding the claim that “without a policy to replace old with new, the television industry will decline,” Li Dongsheng said that for television products, the global market overall is still growing, but China’s TV market has indeed been declining in recent years.

“I think this is mainly not a problem with the product itself, but rather related to insufficient supply of content associated with the television industry,” Li Dongsheng said. For example, there is still a lot of room to improve the supply of film and television content, high-definition display content, and so on. Across the entire film and television industry and entertainment industry, as a terminal product, televisions account for a relatively low proportion of the value in the industrial chain.

“Taking the United States as an example, the annual output value of the film and television industry is about 4 trillion yuan, while China’s film and television industry is about 1.6 trillion yuan. In fact, we still have substantial room for growth,” he said. Only when film and television content is rich and supply is sufficient will terminal demand increase.