Nearly half of all artificial intelligent glasses in the world market last year were manufactured in Dongguan in Guangdong province, demonstrating that the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area city has evolved from a "world factory" to a "global smart manufacturing hub".

According to data from authoritative research firm Omdia, global shipments of AI glasses reached 8.7 million pairs in 2025, a year-on-year surge of 322 percent.

Among them, Dongguan-based enterprises shipped more than four million pairs, accounting for nearly 50 percent of the global market and ranking first worldwide in shipment volume.

Leveraging its trillion-yuan electronic information industry foundation and full-industry-chain supporting advantages, Dongguan has emerged as the world's most important manufacturing hub for the extended reality (XR) industry, showcasing its smart manufacturing industrial strength.

Zeng Jianpeng, executive vice-mayor of Dongguan, said the city has achieved remarkable results in AI industrial development through the rollout of a series of policies aimed at boosting scientific and technological innovation and industrial upgrading in recent years.

Now Dongguan not only provides ODM/OEM services for many global consumer electronics brands but has also seen a strong rise in local independent brands, he said.

And they have built differentiated competitiveness in real-time translation, lightweight design and scenario-based solutions, with products sold to markets across Europe, America, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and other regions worldwide.

The city government recently issued the "Several Measures to Support the Development of the XR Intelligent Terminal Industry", systematically focusing on areas such as technological breakthroughs, enterprise cultivation, scenario-based applications, and fund support.

"This initiative aims to build a hundred-billion-yuan-level XR industry cluster, providing solid support for the explosive growth of AI glasses companies," he said.

As a new-generation human-computer interaction portal and an important carrier of new quality productive forces, AI glasses are ushering in a window period of exponential growth.

Drawing on decades of accumulation in the electronic information industry, Dongguan has built a full-chain closed-loop supporting system covering acoustic systems, camera modules, optical lenses and lightweight materials, as well as mainboard integration, complete device manufacturing and testing and certification.

It enables one-stop rapid delivery from R&D prototyping and small-batch trial production to large-scale mass production, making Dongguan a preferred manufacturing base for global brands and innovative enterprises, he added.