Chinese home appliance manufacturer Gree Electric has developed its own chips, Chinese local media reported on Monday citing its chairwoman, six years after the firm embarked on efforts to do so.

Dong Mingzhu, told news portal Sina.com that the company had achieved capabilities in chip research, design, and manufacturing, all without funding support from the Chinese government. She did not detail what kind of chips Gree was now able to make.

In 2018, Gree set up a subsidiary to design chips for air conditioners and the company announced that it wanted to move into making more smart home products. At the time, Dong said that Gree spent 4 billion yuan ($549.45 million) a year on buying chips for its air conditioners.