The saliva battle between the electric giants of guly and hae-shin on “aluminium copper” is on the rise. The incident exposed the deep anxiety faced by the air-conditioning industry behind the soaring international copper prices。
From mid-april onwards, as representatives of two core actors, the gremo jugil and yang cheung-seong (web-named yang wan hands) brand director of the haisung air-conditioned air-conditioners began a stand-off on twitter, ranging from the “plastering” propaganda slogan to the actual use of “full copper” to the cost and price competition, with each other holding the word “sword and sword”。
The “aluminium copper competition” has generated further industry-wide attention。
Over the period of the real estate dividend, and in the face of deep economic-cycle pressure, combined with the fall of the state-wide electricity industry, china’s air-conditioning sector is experiencing almost unprecedented growth bottlenecks. Stock strikes are inevitable and giants are beginning to lose sight of their bodies。
The domestic electricity industry is today highly competitive, no less than a new energy car. Price warfare, the confrontation of homogenous products, the increasing space for the escalation of experiences brought about by technological upgrading, and the integration of ai with household electricity have not been clear。
As a former “air conditioner” brother, gwig not only confronts old players such as ox and hae-shin, but also guard against the might of new entrants such as mi. The second-tier company in the industry, represented by haishin, was restless in hope of hitting the first corps。
A major discussion has accumulated in an industry that combines public awareness-raising, cost- and benefit-raising, business interests and even industrial technological change, and national resource strategies. Burn it, just a little mars。
Copper aluminium
In july 2024, under the leadership of the china institute of refrigeration, the specialized commission on biomedicine for the low temperature refrigeration of small refrigerators, the united states air-conditioned equipment host plant, the company for parts and components and the aluminium industry, established the working group on the study of aluminium air-conditioned applications。
In march of the following year, the ministry of industry and communications published the aluminium industry quality development implementation programme (2025-2027). In this regard, the aluminium aluminium aluminium enhancement research working group has conducted a number of technical studies and industrial chain work。
Research in this area can be said to be necessary. Traditionally, our country has been a country of “aluminium-rich, poor copper” and resource endowments have determined that, against the backdrop of soaring international copper prices, exploring the possibility of aluminum replacements has contributed to the reduction of the cost of industrial chains。
At the end of 2025, 19 major united states companies, mi, haishin and haile, among others, signed the convention on the self-regulation of aluminium applications for air conditioning, which aims to promote the characteristics of aluminium-for-heater air conditioning in a scientific manner, prohibit malicious attacks and refrain from exaggerating or false commitments。
Paradoxically, however, gwig had volunteered to join the “aluminium copper” working group in march 2025 but had not joined the “self-regulation convention”。
That is, when almost all the players come together for aluminium, gly chooses not to follow. Gly, while willing to conduct a technical study of “aluminium for air conditioners”, did not in fact stop public fingering and comment on “aluminium air conditioners”。
Before that, dong myung joo had made his attitude clear on several occasions: “the durability and stability of aluminium is now not assured that gwi will never use aluminium for copper without 100 per cent certainty.”
By contrast, copper is 1. 73 times more heat than aluminium, and the air conditioner pipelines are responsible for refrigerant transport and heat exchange, thus improving the performance, life and safety of air conditioning。
Also, copper materials are more corrosive and reliable over the long term. Core components such as heat exchangers and connections in air conditioners use copper for a theoretical life of 15-20 years。
On 1 march 2021, gwig started implementing a “ten-year free package policy” for the sale of domestic air conditioners, which is the longest period that the national air conditioning industry has committed to so far。
If it were “aluminium” for copper, it was very likely that the commitment of glig would change。
As a result of higher resistance rates for aluminium, dong myung joo indicated that energy consumption using “aluminium copper” products could double to $10,000, assuming that the user of the glazing air conditioner would charge $5,000 a year。
This is the industry context in which greek cmo jugil and the haisan brand director-general, yang cheong-seong, were cut off. Moreover, there has been a long period of relative tension between gwi and mi and haishin, and their saliva is tantamount to letting this contradiction go。
On the one hand, gwig claimed to insist on “real copper” and promised not to have an aluminum-wire air conditioner in the country, and questioned whether seaks did not use “full copper”; on the other hand, seaks questioned the overprice of the gwig, “three or two copper wires at an additional cost of five dollars, and eventually 500 dollars”。
Graft tries to use “full copper” as a quality label, adhering to the principles of high cost, high quality and high premium, while others try to gain cost advantages through material innovation in order to seize the market。
In terms of motivation, the aluminium copper dispute is also a manifestation of the current tension between the air-conditioning industry defenders and challengers。
Cost
When the price of copper aluminium was at its highest level in 10 years, the demand for “aluminium copper” was subsequently raised again。
On 27 april, the price of lmel copper in futures rose to $13273 per ton, which was above 50 per cent higher than at the beginning of 2025 and has reached a record high since 2026. Although the price of aluminium is also rising, the absolute value of aluminium is much lower than that of copper, which currently stands at $3589. 5 per ton, meaning that the price of aluminium is nearly four times higher than it has been in history。
With the rise in commodity prices, the share of air-conditioning raw materials has reached 54 per cent, of which copper remains the largest cost of well-deserved raw materials, accounting for 22 per cent of the cost。
In-industry estimates show an increase of $10,000 per ton of copper and an increase of approximately $200-300 in the cost of one 1. 5 air conditioner. In response to upstream cost pressures, the air-conditioning mainframe has started to raise prices, and the united states, hair, hae-shin, ox and tcl brands have continued to issue price reductions. At this point in time, gwig is still a rebel and the government has announced that it will not raise prices。
Our resource endowment determines the need to develop and apply aluminium. Our copper deposits are only 4 per cent global, with only 8 per cent global production, and refined copper raw materials are up to 80 per cent external dependencies; pyrolytic aluminium production is 60 per cent global, with aluminium oxide, electrolytic aluminium, aluminium processed materials and regenerative aluminium production being the highest in the world, with strong industrial chain autonomy and control。
The aluminium industry is the country's first largest non-ferrous metal industry, as stated directly in the aluminium industry quality development implementation programme (2025-2027). It plays an important role in guaranteeing the strategic security of our resources and boosting industrial innovation。
Data show that domestic consumption of copper in domestic air conditioners amounts to 10. 7 per cent of the country's annual copper consumption and that the continued high price of copper is a direct incentive for air conditioners to use more aluminium。
Based on accounting securities, the cost of aluminium is approximately 1/10 (price 1/3 and density 1/3) of copper, assuming that aluminium replaces 50% of copper, the cost of ordinary air conditioners will be reduced by 208 ~ 277 dollars; in extreme cases, the full replacement of copper can be reduced by 416 ~ 554 , and the cost end will be significantly reduced。
For an air-conditioning company with an annual sales volume of over millions, replacing 50 per cent of copper with aluminium would save $2. 5 billion. The global sales volume of the world's first america exceeded 70 million annually, and the implementation of the above-mentioned programme (assuming all its products are fully copper) would result in a direct savings of $17 billion in procurement expenditures。
This is an extremely attractive alternative for any large domestic power enterprise. But our consumers still have a lot of concerns about aluminium air conditioning, with low penetration rates。
In japan, the proportion of air conditioners using aluminum-for-heaters has reached 40-50 per cent, the share of aluminum machines in air conditioners is more than half in 2024, penetration in south korea and south-east asia is about 30-40 per cent, and 15-20 per cent in the united states market。
In response to the japanese gold bill, at the end of last year, manbau air conditioner and kyoto electric joined forces to launch the country's first “aluminium copper” air conditioner “ice speed man”, which used zinc aluminum alloy material developed in cooperation with the golden dragon group at a price of only $999-1199, which would be more favourable with a national supplement。
The introduction of this product marks the official landing of the “aluminium copper” technology route in our air-conditioning industry。
However, mandarin's position is low and provides only five-year quality assurance cycles, while the american, haile and hae-shins are six-years old, and guly is more committed to a 10-year free package. The difference is clear for consumers。
The natural disadvantages of aluminium — intolerant corrosiveness, high welding difficulties, reduced cooling rates, etc. — can lead to annual increases in electricity costs and higher maintenance costs, all of which are destined to be a long way from universal air conditioning。
Balance
Formerly beautiful, followed by millet, surrounded by giant rings such as haishin, haile and tcl, the former air-conditioner king was no longer a “leading brother”。
With multiple price coverage, smart product, diversified innovation and globalization, beauty is the first to be sold globally and overall sales are already higher
On the internet, on the other hand, it is dependent on unique internet genes and rice ecology, with the emergence of small-scale foreign armies. Previous data from the oviyun network indicate that, in july 2025, small millimetres were placed second on the air conditioning line. The head of the public relations department of xiaomei group then proceeded to lament on twitter: “the new era has come so soon.”
However, this achievement was also immediately criticized by chu, who noted that “the market strength on the july line remains ahead under the same search conditions”
Two dozen times in 2013, dong ming joo and the thunder army set up a “billion-dollar bet”, causing widespread concern, and since then, mi has entered the domestic electricity industry and has engaged in close competition with gu li. Looking back now, the implications of this matter are far-reaching and its importance has long been underestimated。
The president of the mi group, luway ice, has a well-defined target, with the mi ac to enter the industry in 2025 and the first two in 2030. It's obviously a target on gryk's territory。
And it's not just rice that wants the gryce market cake. In may of last year, the former us air conditioning managing director, yin bing tsing tsing to haishin, the managing director of the air sector of the platform, planned to “go to the first global stage” by 2030-2031。
Hale air conditioning became the only firm in the 2025 top3 to achieve a “double increase in volume price” of sales and the only to win a large plate in the top3。
Gly is actually facing a chorus. In 2025, glb collected 17,118 million yuan, resulting in a net profit of 29,030. 3 million yuan for the mother, both core indicators falling by 10 per cent each year. Gly's own presentation is also “smart” and claims to be the first in 14 consecutive years of cac, with a retail share of 24. 31 per cent for online hacs, also ranked first in the industry。
On the other hand, in capital markets, glig has always been well known for the return of high-profit, high-scoring, high-share returns, and it is important to maintain higher premiums with better quality and quality services, and to feed shareholder interests with higher premiums to strengthen the position of the industry with shareholder interests。
Adherence to pure copper material is the strategic choice under this inherent requirement. As challengers, hae-shin, mi, ox, etc., have become more open to aluminium, with some products opting for aluminium materials and obtaining value-for-money advantages as a means of exploring the market plates that continue to take over the country。
The outside world seems to have been the “enemy of the world” and the resistance has been on all sides. In the style of dong myung joo, chu zhu zhu has also frequently “gunned” other players throughout the industry on twitter。
This choice under commercial competition necessarily affects the experience of consumers. Aluminium air conditioning is not comparable in performance, quality and reliability to pure copper air conditioning at present, and there is a certain market for a few non-domestic scenarios and price-for-money users。
But if blindly spread to a wide range of industries, consumers may not buy in the short term. The air-conditioning industry should find a virtuous balance between material development and the commercial interest dimension, which is also an objective goal of the current round of the air-conditioning industry。
At the end
The saliva battles of the bronze aluminium war are increasingly fermenting within the industry, but from a consumer's perspective it is difficult to produce truly objective and rational judgements。
For consumers with limited knowledge of the depth of industry composition and patterns, there is a high risk that “copper” will be reduced to the sole ruler of quality and that “aluminium” will be treated as a poor product. This is a potential risk for actively exploring multinational aluminium manufacturers。
As in many areas, it is extremely difficult to change existing public perceptions。
In the absence of cost pressures and public awareness, the greatest risk to the air-conditioning industry in china is the loss of the possibility of exploring alternatives to material technologies — the voice on the market is “bone is enough”. The real problem, however, is that this is not conducive to the further development of our resources in the aluminium industry, or to the direction of our national resource strategy, or to the long-term interests of all consumers。
While the use of more copper in air conditioning can win consumer approval, it would clearly be a very short-sighted collective decision if it were to seal the prospects for aluminium application。
