In Huaqiangbei, AI is first and foremost a business.
In Huaqiangbei, some people spend half a year teaching a plush toy to read people's emotions, while others replicate the latest overseas AI hardware in just 48 hours. The merchants here rarely discuss technology itself, but they can always produce new products in no time and put them into watches, glasses, and dolls, then display them on the counters.
The once-popular mobile phone accessories and smart products have given way to new star products: AI hardware. Old players are transforming, and new entrepreneurs are entering the market. Huaqiangbei is using its unique supply chain speed to verify the authenticity of this AI wave. It is a testing ground for global consumer electronics and an opportunity field for countless people. When the tide comes, the merchants who have been sticking here for a decade and the explorers who enter the market with ideas are all looking for the next business in their own ways.
AI Comes to Huaqiangbei
At the end of February, a group announcement posted by the group owner popped up on Theo's phone, an AI hardware entrepreneur. It said, "Those who want the Huaqiangbei version of the OpenClaw box can come to me for pre - orders." At that time, only one day had passed since the release of the original overseas OpenClaw integrated box.
The original box is priced at $399. The group owner said that he found someone in Huaqiangbei to disassemble, research, and produce it. They could achieve 80% similarity, and each box would cost 699 yuan, with delivery available the next day. Ten days later, the group owner "showed off" his sales results on his WeChat Moments. The boxes sold like hotcakes, and he made six - figure earnings.
Such stories are not uncommon in today's Huaqiangbei. During the Spring Festival this year, the overall revenue of Shenzhen Huaqiangbei increased by 35% year - on - year. AI hardware became the popular "tech New Year goods". In the first two months of the year, the overall sales of tech products increased by more than 30% year - on - year, among which the sales of AI glasses soared by 70% to 80%. As an established consumer electronics city, Huaqiangbei has become popular on the Internet again, and this time, its label is the most trendy AI.
If you come to Huaqiangbei now, it still looks like an ordinary electronics market. But if you just stroll around a bit, you'll find that AI is everywhere.
At noon on an ordinary weekday, a row of cute AI dolls on the silver - white counter were rolling their eyes. Lin Shaodong's attention was caught by them. Half a year ago, in his impression, these AI dolls were not so "smart". They couldn't greet people, wave their hands, or take photos or record sounds.
The shop owner came over and asked Lin Shaodong to ask the doll, "Is the person standing in front of you a handsome guy?" The doll immediately replied, "You are very handsome and tall, and you are full of energy." Lin Shaodong works at Huaqiang Electronics World. He told Jingxiang Studio that there are more than six thousand shops here now, offering everything from accessories, electronic components to terminal products.
In Huaqiangbei, there is only a counter between new technology and products. You can see a drone flying in the air and a robot dog running in the corner. If you look closely, you can also find all kinds of novel products like AI time managers and AI guitars. There are countless styles of AI glasses alone. Customers can get their glasses with customized prescriptions on the spot and pick them up the same day, with an average price of only 150 - 180 yuan.
Many stalls may seem unremarkable, but they are often connected to a complete production line behind. The shops are responsible for sensing the market, and the factories are responsible for rapid production. New products are first sold on a trial basis in a few stalls. If the sales are good, other merchants will quickly follow suit. In the past two or three years, more and more AI products have emerged here, been replicated, and then taken to all parts of the world. As a result, Huaqiangbei has welcomed new visitors: retail buyers, cross - border e - commerce practitioners, hardware entrepreneurs, foreign purchasers... All kinds of people are shuttling through the market.
● The first floor of the first store of Huaqiang Electronics World in Shenzhen. Photo source: interviewee
Chen Xiaosha is in her forties. She runs the flagship store of Luojiefu blood pressure watches on the first floor of the first store of Huaqiang Electronics World in Shenzhen. At the end of October last year, a special guest came to the store: Professor Marshall, the winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. The professor, along with his lawyer and assistant, a group of three, stayed in the store for more than half an hour and all experienced the air - pump blood pressure watches with AI functions in the store.
A month later, Professor Marshall sent a message on WeChat, expressing his appreciation for the product.
The working hours in Huaqiangbei are also changing because of AI. In the past, the electronics world opened at 9:30 a.m. and closed at 7 p.m. Now, the closing time has been postponed to 9 p.m., and the nearby express delivery stations don't stop until one or two o'clock in the morning. More than 3 million packages are sent from here to all parts of the world every day.
The once - called "No. 1 Electronic Street in China" has officially entered the AI era. New people, new products, and new stories have begun.
All in AI
A few years ago, if someone said that Huaqiangbei would become popular again because of electronic products, many people might not have believed it.
At that time, this once "No. 1 Electronic Street in China" was going through a rather long period of downturn.
Five or six years ago, when Xiao Ting, the general manager's assistant of Xinrui Technology, a blood pressure watch manufacturer, first went to Huaqiangbei, the scene he saw was very different from what it is now. At that time, in addition to 3C products, many merchants were also selling cosmetics, imported goods, etc. As the first electronic market in China, it seemed a bit unworthy of the name. As early as 2017, due to the impact of e - commerce on the electronics business and the decline in gross profit, Mingtong Digital City in Huaqiangbei was transformed into the "Mingtong Cosmetics Market". Since 2020, the COVID - 19 pandemic has made the passenger flow and order volume in Huaqiangbei even worse.
Huaqiangbei needs new products and new stories. And AI happened to appear at this time.
In 1998, Jiang Xiaolin came to Huaqiangbei to start a business. From security equipment and earphones to now specializing in smart glasses, his store has almost transformed with each wave of the electronics trend. In 2022, Jiang Xiaolin began to consider adding AI functions to his products. At that time, a company shareholder heard many people mention at the Consumer Electronics Show in the United States that AI would change the form of consumer electronics. He brought this news back to Huaqiangbei, told the idea to the solution providers, and asked them to coordinate AI cooperation, hoping to add this somewhat mysterious concept to the smart glasses.
AI first entered here as a "future concept". At the end of 2023, when hardware entrepreneur Theo first came to Huaqiangbei, he found that many merchants selling electronic products had already started to "AI - ize". However, at that time, it was mostly AI at the software level, such as installing AI programs on computers or adding simple intelligent functions to existing products.
The real wave of AI hardware didn't become obvious until the end of 2024. At that time, many enterprises began to transform in order to survive. Shenzhen Xinrui Technology Co., Ltd. was one of them. Since 2019, Xinrui Technology has been selling smart watches in Huaqiangbei. At that time, the ex - factory price of their watches was in the range of 150 - 300 yuan, while the purchase price of some products with the same appearance in the Huaqiangbei market was less than 100 yuan. Although they believed that their products had better quality and longer service life, many customers thought, "I just want to buy a watch that looks like an Apple Watch."
To some extent, choosing AI is a self - rescue for Huaqiangbei. Price competition left enterprises with little room for maneuver. Around 2023, the company finally decided to transform. After obtaining relevant patents for blood pressure measurement, they formed a R & D team of more than 30 people to develop blood pressure monitoring watches. They self - developed everything from hardware, software, structural design to the APP system, reduced the entertainment functions, and put the health monitoring data on the home page.
At the end of 2024, Xiao Ting helped Xinrui Technology obtain the Class II medical device certification from the National Medical Products Administration for the blood pressure watch as a "wrist - type electronic blood pressure monitor". In April 2025, the company opened its first flagship store in Huaqiangbei. In May and June of the same year, the team's idea of adding AI functions took shape, and at the end of the year, the AI blood pressure watch was officially launched.
Also in that year, the smart glasses in Jiang Xiaolin's store were all updated to "AI smart glasses". He changed the slogan of his original store, "Youhe Intelligent Manufacturing", and hung up an LED light board that said "All in AI".
● Jiang Xiaolin's AI smart glasses store. Photo source: interviewee
The changes have spread from individual stores to the whole street. Even the market operators in Huaqiangbei have started to prepare for this AI wave.
Lin Shaodong recalled that before the Spring Festival in 2025, Huaqiang Electronics World invested about 20 million yuan to renovate the first - floor and the periphery of Building 1 and 2 of the first store in Shenzhen to create a "sense of technology and future". The overall design uses silver as the main color. The former "one - meter counters" have been expanded into delicate and independent small stalls, and the aisles have also been widened. Screens at the pillars and corners continuously display high - tech scenes such as space and the universe. They also equipped nearly 200 employees and security guards with AI translators to provide consultation, shopping guidance, and explanation services for foreign friends. When Lin Shaodong heard the news at that time, he was a little worried. He thought that this was undoubtedly a desperate change.
But with the transformation of the market, Lin Shaodong has become busier in the past year. There have been continuous media interviews, visiting groups, and research groups. Just recently, a cross - border e - commerce exhibition was held in Shenzhen. At three or four o'clock in the afternoon, the exhibition organizers organized dozens of people to take a bus to visit. Huaqiangbei has become lively again.
"Hidden Talents"
If AI has brought new products to Huaqiangbei, it is still the people here that really make this market operate.
"Hidden talents", this is Theo's impression of Huaqiangbei.
In 2023, Theo and two friends in Shenzhen started to try to develop an AI robot for office desktops. One team member was in charge of hardware development, one was in charge of software development, and he was responsible for contacting suppliers, negotiating cooperation, and purchasing components. And Huaqiangbei was the place he went to most often. He lives in Beijing, and in the following year and a half, he frequently flew to Shenzhen. In the busiest month, he flew 8 times, and his membership level of Shenzhen Airlines was upgraded to platinum.
In Huaqiangbei, every boss he met seemed to be an "AI product manager".
One day, Theo bought six or seven AI hardware products at a store at once. The boss was curious and asked him what he was buying them for. After hearing that he was doing entrepreneurial research, the boss immediately pointed to one of the products and said directly, "We don't even bother to copy it." Then the boss recommended another product, which was a copy of a Japanese brand. The original one had an emotion recognition function, "It's not easy to copy."
Another time, when he was purchasing components, he asked the store if they had a certain model. The store owner took a look and said, "Your information is too outdated. This model was phased out two years ago. Using it now is like using a Nokia in 2025."
● It's like "panning for gold" in Huaqiangbei. Photo source: interviewee
In Huaqiangbei, to judge whether a product is worth making, you don't need market reports or user surveys. Just take a look at the parts, calculate the cost, and then see how the products in the next stall are selling.
Theo still remembers a female store owner. Her store was two or three times larger than an ordinary stall and was filled with all kinds of AI hardware, including AI glasses, AI rings, portable AI drum sets, keyboards, etc. The boss could not only play the piano but also explain the technical principles of each piece of hardware clearly. At that time, he wanted to buy a copy of an Apple Watch to compare with the genuine one. When the boss heard about it, she just threw the watch to him and said, "Then I'll give it to you." She said she had a lot of watches and asked him to take it to study slowly. If he thought it was good, he could introduce customers to her. Later, Theo really introduced many friends in Shenzhen to her.
Here, trust, information, and business are often the same thing. Lin Shaodong shared a story. Once, during his inspection of the market, he found that two stores across from each other were selling the same AI toys. According to market practice, the main business categories of merchants in the same area are usually differentiated to avoid selling the same products and falling into vicious price - cutting competition. He asked them separately, and both stores said that they were the only ones selling this toy in the whole Huaqiangbei. They just happened to have the same supply channel, and they had privately negotiated to keep the price the same. This fully reflects the survival wisdom of the merchants in Huaqiangbei.
Once, Theo took a list of six or seven components, including hardware brackets and core structural parts, to Futian Port near Huaqiangbei to find suppliers. A Hunan boss who had been doing business in Huaqiangbei for 14 years took one look at the list and immediately took him by car to the industrial park. There was a special sample library in the factory, where the components were stored in plastic baskets classified by type, with model stickers on the baskets. As they were chatting, the boss said that he would give him 5 free samples of each component to test. If they were not suitable, he didn't have to buy them. Later, he ordered about 200 pieces of each component, not a large quantity, but the boss was very enthusiastic.
In the past decade, the trends in Huaqiangbei have changed from mining machines, beauty products, e - cigarettes to balance bikes, and now it's AI's turn. As the trends change, some people leave, and some people enter. But the bosses in Huaqiangbei remain the same: they may not necessarily understand what AI is, but they know that it's a business, and they must seize it.
AI Is First and Foremost a Business
In Huaqiangbei, hardly anyone takes the success or failure of a product too seriously.
In today's Huaqiangbei, new products appear and old products disappear every week. But in Lin Shaodong's view, what is called "failure" in Huaqiangbei is more just trial - and - error: if a product doesn't sell well, quickly adjust it according to market feedback and then launch a new version.