Dreame Technology ranked first worldwide in robot vacuum sales in the first quarter of 2026, according to IDC data, accounting for 23.7% of units sold and 28% of revenue, based on IPO Zaozhidao’s estimates.
The company, however, is increasingly expanding beyond robot vacuums into a broader range of appliances and robotics-related technologies.
Around 2017, China’s home appliance sector was growing rapidly. A common approach was to buy off-the-shelf motors and sensor systems, assemble finished products, bring them to market quickly, and use traffic-driven marketing to gain market share.
Before Dreame was established, founder Yu Hao and his team chose to develop high-speed digital motors in-house, despite the time and capital required. The component is central to cleaning appliances, affecting suction, noise, and product life.
At the time, established overseas companies dominated the technology. Their products were expensive, and their most advanced solutions were generally unavailable to outside buyers. Most appliance makers therefore relied on procurement, which was faster and less risky than internal development.
Dreame took the opposite approach. It viewed control of core technology as essential to improving performance and reducing its dependence on suppliers. Drawing on fluid dynamics principles used in aerospace engineering, Yu and his team developed capabilities in aerodynamic design, electromagnetic architecture, drive control, and thermal management.
The resulting motor delivered higher aerodynamic efficiency, better noise control, and lower production costs than externally sourced alternatives available at the time, according to the company. It also became a technical foundation that Dreame could adapt across categories, allowing it to expand into products such as hair dryers without rebuilding its core capabilities. This improved R&D efficiency and helped control costs.
Motors, however, are only one part of Dreame’s technology portfolio. The company has also invested in perception algorithms, robotic motion control, and spatial semantic understanding, capabilities with applications beyond robot vacuums.
A high-end robot vacuum is effectively a compact mobile robot. It combines 3D spatial perception, multisensor fusion, artificial intelligence-powered decision-making, and motion control. These same capabilities are relevant to home service robots, giving Dreame experience in operating autonomous machines in domestic environments.
That experience is becoming more relevant as AI moves from software into physical products. For years, much of the sector focused on large models and their performance in areas such as reasoning, accuracy, and content generation. The next stage is likely to involve systems that can perceive their surroundings, interpret tasks, and act autonomously.
Dreame’s products already draw on those three capabilities. Its systems detect changes in their environment, make decisions, and adjust their actions in real time. This could support the company’s expansion into a broader range of robotics products, although its ability to turn those capabilities into commercially viable businesses remains unproven.
The comparison with the smartphone industry is useful, but limited. The iPhone evolved from a consumer device into a platform for digital services. Dreame is attempting to use its appliance and robotics technologies as a foundation for products that connect AI with the physical world.
As AI systems become more capable of operating in real environments, new opportunities are likely to emerge in robotics and intelligent hardware.
Dreame’s position rests on two main advantages:
- A commercial base supported by its global market share, revenue from existing products, and expansion across multiple categories.
- Its investment in technologies that support embodied intelligence, including perception, decision-making, and autonomous execution in real-world environments.
This article was adapted based on a feature originally written by Stone Jin and published on IPO Zaozhidao. KrASIA is authorized to translate, adapt, and publish its contents.