By Greg Gao

(JW Insights) Jun 13 -- Gree Electric Appliances(格力电器), one of China’s biggest air-conditioner manufacturers, has accumulated a total of 110,398 patent applications as of May 2023. Its chairwoman Dong Mingzhu, announced that the company has no limit on R&D investment, media outlet China News reported recently.

The number includes 57,866 invention patents. The company has been granted 17,766 invention patents both domestically and internationally, related statistics showed.

Gree currently boasts 152 research institutes, 1,411 laboratories, and one academician workstation (Motor and Control). It also runs one national key laboratory, one national engineering technology research center, one national industrial design center, and one nationally recognized enterprise technology center, according to the company.

Last month, Gree refuted a media report claiming the Chinese home appliance giant disbanded its core smartphone team.

“Many consumers have given positive feedback after using our phones. I will never give up on smartphones. I firmly believe that we must continue to develop them. In my understanding, smartphones are not only for making calls and taking pictures, but they also allow us, as a manufactureer, to get closer to consumers. It’s a process,” Dong Mingzhu said in recent an interview with Phoenix Television.