China’s artificial intelligence device market is already booming, and in the advanced technology race against the U.S., the country’s expertise in hardware could give it an edge.

“The advantage comes from the fundamental root that China is a nation of manufacturing,” Dr. Kai-Fu Lee, CEO of 01.AI and chairman of Sinovation Ventures, told CNBC. “Today, the competition is on the software, the models, the agents, the applications. But soon it will move to devices.”

Meta has sold millions of its smart glasses since introducing the specs in 2023, and the Chinese have caught on, with more than 70 Chinese companies creating competing products in the space.

Eyewear from companies such as Inmo and Rokid are sold worldwide. Xiaomi and Alibaba‘s are found only in China and are embedded with the tech giants’ own AI.

Alibaba’s DingTalk, a messaging platform for the workplace, this year released a credit card-sized AI gizmo meant for note-taking on the job.

The DingTalk A1 can record, transcribe, summarize and analyze speech from as far as 8 meters (26 feet) away, about the length of a large boardroom.

The device is similar to the Plaud Note, which is available in the U.S.

The device experimentation in China spans from the practical to the unconventional.

Chinese startup Le Le Gaoshang Education Technology released a “Native Language Star” brand translating gadget aimed at Chinese parents with limited English to teach English to their own children.

The contraption, which is looped around the back of a user’s neck like a travel neck pillow and comes down toward the chest, has a sort of muzzle unit that goes over the mouth and mutes the user’s own voice.

The unit is embedded with Tencent and iFlyTek AI and is billed as a way to turn an English-speaking Chinese parent into a “laowai,” or foreigner. It retails for $420.

Having so many hardware touchpoints helps with adoption and with getting people used to the technology. It’s also a boost for companies to gather a war chest of data compared to other countries, analysts say.

“When you still hear people outside of China talking about what the future of the AI device might be, the market is full of AI devices here already,” tech consultant Tom van Dillen of Greenkern said at his office in Beijing. “This creates this feedback loop again to make the AI even better.”

Yet an edge in hardware is far from a guarantee to win the AI race, especially if China’s AI lacks appeal with global customers due to privacy or other issues, or if it falls well behind its counterparts in the U.S. or elsewhere.

“You really have to be that Apple iPhone to reap the most of the reward,” Lee cautioned, referencing late entrepreneur Steve Jobs’ invention that is often seen as one of the most transformative consumer products ever. “I think the China advantage for building the Apple iPhone for the AI age is that the capabilities are there — engineers and entrepreneurs, and so on. But it will still be a race.”

Google on Monday said it plans to launch the first of its AI-powered glasses in 2026, as the tech company ramps up its efforts to compete against Meta in a heating consumer market for AI devices.

The Alphabet-owned company is collaborating on hardware design with Samsung, Gentle Monster and Warby Parker, with whom Google agreed to a $150 million commitment in May.

Google plans to release audio-only glasses that will allow users to speak with the Gemini artificial-intelligence assistant, the company said in a blog. Google also said there will be glasses with an in-lens display that show users information such as navigation directions and language translations. The company said the first of these glasses will arrive next year, but it did not specify which styles that will include.

In a Monday filing, Warby Parker said that the first of its glasses in partnership with Google are expected to launch in 2026.

The glasses will be built on top of Android XR, Google’s operating system for its headsets.

Google’s Monday updates come after the company in May announced that it would be getting back into the smart glasses game. At the time, co-founder Sergey Brin said he learned from Google’s past mistakes of failed smart glasses, citing less advanced AI and a lack of supply chain knowledge, which led to expensive price points.

“Now, in the AI world, the things these glasses can do to help you out without constantly distracting you — that capability is much higher,” Brin said in May.

The AI wearables space has been gaining traction with Meta leading the pack. the social media company’s Ray-Ban Meta glasses were met with surprising success. The glasses, which were designed in partnership with eyewear giant EssilorLuxottica, are infused with the Meta AI digital assistant

Meta also released its own display glasses in September, which allows users to see features like messages, photo previews and live captions through a small display that’s built into one of the device’s lenses.

Other companies like Snap and Alibaba have also been churning out their own AI glasses offerings as the small but competitive market continues to grow.

Google on Monday also revealed more software updates to the Galaxy XR headset, including the ability to link it to Windows PCs and a travel mode that will allows the device to be used in planes and cars.

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