(Yicai) Nov. 27 -- Small and medium-sized manufacturers of artificial intelligence smart glasses in China’s Pearl River Delta region are rapidly growing despite intense competition, both by actively courting brand partners to speed up expansion and by launching their own self-developed products that are already posting solid sales.

"If we only sell our own products, we would be under much greater financial pressure," Yan Pengfei, general manager of Dongguan Antavic Technology, told Yicai. That’s why the original design manufacturer of AI eyewear based in the major economic hub in southern China is actively talking with both business and consumer ODM clients to expand the scale of its contract manufacturing business.

Antavic, which is building a new factory in Dongguan, welcomed four important clients at its Shenzhen office during the day of the interview with Yicai. One of its products, an AI translation eyewear device priced at CNY119 (USD16), sold well during this year's Double 11 shopping festival on Douyin Mall.

There are around six to eight small and medium-sized manufacturers in the Pearl River Delta that are capable of developing AI eyewear, Yan said. All of them are seeking partnerships with brand owners so that they can grow together.

Smaller manufacturers like Antavic are adaptable and have relatively low research and development costs. Developing new AI glasses needs an investment of under CNY10 million (USD1.41 million) and the company can update the designs every six months, Yan said.

For example, Antavic launched a pair of AI glasses with translation and navigation features priced at CNY599 (USD85) in July and monthly shipments have since topped 20,000 units. But in early December the company said it plans to debut a new model priced at CNY399, which will have better AI translation and navigation capabilities than the older, more expensive version.

Domestic chips have become increasingly mature, giving both AI eyewear brand owners and manufacturers more low-cost and higher-value options, Yan said. For instance, the AI camera glasses that Anyka plans to launch early next year will use chips from the Guangzhou-based supplier Anyka Microelectronics.

2026 is expected to mark a turning point in China’s smart glasses market, with significant changes in product design, user interaction and service models, according to a report by market research firm International Data Corp.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Kim Taylor