Yu Hao, founder and chief executive of Dreame Technology, has sought to put a lid on a social‑media storm after an internal chat spat over his long‑term ambition spilled into public view. In a Weibo post he defended a goal he described earlier — to build a Dreame ecosystem worth what he called “one hundred trillion dollars” — as a multi‑decadal aspiration rather than an imminent promise, and insisted the furor had been overblown.
The dispute began after Yu posted a note comparing Dreame’s future prospects to the biggest global tech firms. He argued that while Nvidia and the current generation of tech titans have pushed valuations into the low trillions of dollars, a younger cohort of entrepreneurs could aim much higher, and he set Dreame’s horizon at an almost inconceivable scale. A screenshot of a staff member publicly criticising that rhetoric in a company chat quickly became a trending hashtag on Weibo, amplifying the episode beyond the firm.
Yu responded directly to questions about the employee who spoke up, saying the individual had already submitted a resignation and that internal access would be deactivated at midnight on the day of the outburst. He sought to frame dissent as routine, writing that Dreame has seen many differing opinions and that he is not bothered by them. Yu further defended the company’s business credentials, asserting Dreame has never burned investor cash and that the business has been cumulatively profitable since founding, with six consecutive years of roughly 100% annual growth and rising net margins.
Those financial claims are notable because Dreame has shifted from contract manufacturing for Xiaomi into an increasingly diverse, capital‑hungry set of businesses: consumer appliances, drones and a recent push into new‑energy vehicles as part of a grand “human‑car‑home‑universe” ecosystem. The pivot from vacuums and robot cleaners to electric cars and household white goods signals a move from relatively asset‑light consumer electronics into sectors that typically demand sustained large capital outlays, long product development cycles and heavy supply‑chain commitments.
The episode matters for several reasons. Public spats over lofty valuation targets expose fault lines in corporate culture and raise questions about governance and talent retention at a time when Chinese tech firms face intense competition for engineers and managers. Grandiose targets can motivate internal stakeholders and attract attention, but they also risk eroding credibility if not matched by transparent milestones and financing plans. For investors and rivals watching Dreame’s transition, the key signals will be cash runway, capital‑allocation choices and the company’s ability to show concrete progress in hardware categories that are both costly and tightly regulated.
On a broader stage, the scrap illuminates a recurring theme in China’s technology sector: the tension between bullish, scalp‑raising ambition and the hard realities of manufacturing scale‑up and capital discipline. Whether Dreame can translate a high‑decibel vision into a sustainable, capital‑efficient strategy will determine whether the episode is remembered as a moment of bravado or the first public crack in a founder‑led rebirth.
What to watch next: Dreame’s upcoming financial disclosures, any new fundraising or partnerships in automotive and home appliances, and employee morale signals such as hiring and turnover metrics. These will be stronger indicators than social‑media rhetoric of whether Yu’s mega‑ambition is built on firm foundations or on PR horsepower alone.