Gasgoo Munich- China's auto market remains in deep adjustment as 2026 unfolds: overall sales are under pressure, the price war persists, and profit margins are squeezed. Yet, some companies are still delivering strong results. TE Connectivity (TE), a global leader in connectivity and sensing, has maintained rapid growth in China's automotive connector market. Beyond transferring technology to global markets, TE's global factories in Morocco, Europe, Brazil, and Thailand are increasingly supporting Chinese OEMs' overseas expansion.
Observers suggest that the reason this connector giant grows while the industry stagnates is not just technical innovation, but deep strategy—reconstructing growth logic via a "boundary expansion" mindset. At the recent Munich Shanghai Electronics Fair, TE used the theme "Expanding Boundaries, Co-creating Value," exhibiting with ecosystem partners to demonstrate this multi-dimensional approach. Here is a closer look.
Breaking Technical Boundaries: From Small Wire Gauges to Comprehensive Aluminum-for-Copper Substitution
"Boundary expansion" carries multiple meanings for TE. The most immediate is breaking limits in capability, especially technology. Sun Xiaoguang, Vice President and General Manager of TE Automotive and Industrial & Commercial Transportation in China, stated that addressing "cut-throat competition" cannot rely on sacrificing profits alone. The key is breaking technical bottlenecks from an industry perspective, making products "smaller, lighter, better," and maximizing cost reduction and efficiency.
Sun Xiaoguang, Vice President and General Manager of TE Connectivity's Automotive and Industrial & Commercial Transportation Business Units in China. Image Source: TE Connectivity
In 2024, TE launched a small wire gauge solution: the 0.19 mm² multi-win composite wire. Based on existing test data, this solution achieved approximately 60% copper reduction, 37% weight reduction, and at least 10% cost savings. It is now applied in 18 models across 14 OEMs.
In 2025, the company proposed "aluminum replacing copper" for low-voltage current loops. The rise of intelligent EVs has increased wire harness demand per vehicle, increasing copper usage and costs. The direct benefit of switching to aluminum is reduced copper use, lower weight and cost, and lower CO₂ emissions—copper is heavier and more expensive than aluminum, and its refining generates significant CO₂. At this year's Munich Electronics Fair, TE announced the rollout of a "comprehensive aluminum-for-copper solution."
Image Source: TE Connectivity
At the fair, TE showcased a range of innovative applications for aluminum technology in vehicle connectivity: a new generation of low-voltage alloy aluminum wires, high-voltage aluminum wires and busbar connections, and aluminum system assembly solutions. According to Zheng Rong, Senior Sales and Marketing Director of TE Automotive China, these innovations can help customers reduce copper in electronic circuits by 18% to 100%, and large-scale promotion could cut China's annual CO₂ emissions by over 1 million tons.
Zheng Rong, Senior Sales and Marketing Director of TE Connectivity's Automotive Business Unit in China. Image Source: TE Connectivity
Both small wire gauges and aluminum substitution are solutions known to the industry but difficult to implement. Take aluminum substitution: European companies attempted to introduce aluminum wires into vehicles 20 years ago, yet issues such as electrochemical corrosion and aluminum creep were never fully resolved.
Sun Xiaoguang told media that past failures stemmed from "not adhering to first principles." Traditional solutions tried to mitigate aluminum's defects by improving terminal capabilities without changing the wire itself. TE's approach redesigns from the ground up: developing high-strength aluminum alloy materials to fundamentally solve the potential difference and electrochemical corrosion issues between copper and aluminum.
However, Sun admitted that the main concern in promoting aluminum substitution is "adverse selection"—if the industry uses low-end aluminum wire as high-end alloy, a massive failure could halt this strategic direction entirely. He hopes the industry maintains quality standards while cutting costs.
Ecosystem Expansion: Co-creation and Cooperation to Unlock Key Supply Chain Nodes
TE recognized early that breaking industry bottlenecks cannot be done by a single company. In recent years, it has championed "multi-win" cooperation and ecosystem co-creation.
For the aluminum substitution to work, material breakthroughs alone are far from enough. Welding processes, production line equipment, and harness factory retrofits—any weak link could jeopardize the entire solution.
On July 2, TE signed a four-party strategic agreement with Boway Alloy, Jiaocheng Ultrasonic, and Komax to build a "comprehensive aluminum-for-copper" mass-production ecosystem. Boway Alloy develops and supplies the high-strength aluminum alloy; Jiaocheng Ultrasonic provides welding process solutions; and Komax ensures seamless equipment switching—harness factories do not need to spend heavily replacing entire lines, just swapping modules to upgrade from crimping to welding.
Image Source: TE Connectivity
During the fair, TE displayed an ultrasonic welding solution for low-voltage alloy aluminum wires developed with partners. It compresses cutting, stripping, crimping, and welding to approximately 1 second and integrates seamlessly with existing automated lines. This eliminates hundreds of millions in retrofit costs for harness factories, solving another major hurdle for widespread aluminum adoption.
Image Source: TE Connectivity
"We are not just experts; we are organizers who consider value beyond expertise," Sun said, defining TE's role in the ecosystem. "We want the entire supply chain, starting from OEMs, to reduce costs, so no entity over-invests." This positioning is pragmatic and critical: technical breakthroughs are the prerequisite, but economic feasibility drives mass adoption.
TE is expanding similar co-creation across more dimensions. In July 2025, TE opened a joint innovation lab with the Geely Automobile Research Institute, and strategic cooperation with Li Auto is progressing. On the supply chain side, beyond Boway Alloy, TE has established deep joint R&D relationships with material firms like Kingfa and BASF. These partnerships have moved beyond traditional transactions to collaborative incubation.
Image Source: TE Connectivity
Business Expansion: From Four Wheels to Two, and Into Embodied Intelligence
The results of technical expansion must ultimately translate into business growth. TE's expansion of business boundaries reflects this same "boundary expansion" thinking.
Two-wheelers are a strategically significant entry point. China's market is massive—annual sales alone reach tens of millions—but connector quality has historically lagged. Recently, as consumers demand better safety and intelligence, top players realize they must reshape quality using automotive standards. TE's approach is proactive development based on customer needs, solving pain points at minimal cost. Zheng Rong revealed that its "Caishiji" product is widely used in the electric motorcycle fast-charging market, with several leading companies entering strategic partnerships.
Image Source: TE Connectivity
Robotics is another new territory being mapped out. At the 2026 Munich Shanghai Electronics Fair, TE established its first humanoid robot solution zone, covering connection schemes for perception, control, power, and joint systems. Sun explained that at the technical level, robot perception needs cameras and LiDAR; control requires wire-to-board and wire-to-wire connections; power involves battery packs and charging sockets; and joints need wear-resistant harnesses. These are highly consistent with automotive electronic-electrical architectures.
Image Source: TE Connectivity
The embodied intelligence market is still in its infancy, and connectors are not yet a key driver for growth. Yet TE is choosing to position itself early, using existing resources and technical reserves to explore new standards with customers. "We move toward where we can provide value—either disruptive or extended value," Sun said. "Define the value first, and when the opportunity comes, we can scale up immediately."
From passenger cars to commercial vehicles, then to two-wheelers and humanoid robots, TE is building an "AUTO+" business map. The logic is straightforward: technical capabilities, manufacturing experience, and quality systems accumulated in the automotive sector can find new applications in adjacent industries. The key lies in migrating these capabilities at the lowest possible cost—precisely the core competency TE has built through years of operational efficiency and scalable manufacturing.
Image Source: TE Connectivity
Remaining clear-headed during industry shifts, finding growth in limited spaces, and exploring co-creation beyond solo efforts—TE's "boundary expansion" mindset offers a case study worth examining for an industry in deep adjustment. When "cut-throat competition" becomes the norm, the real way to break through may not be competing harder in the same dimension, but stepping outside existing boundaries to redefine how value is created.
