①Alibaba Cloud Tongyi Intelligent Hardware Exhibition will be held from August 10th to 11th, and more than 1,000 pieces of AI hardware will be on display. ②CES will be held from January 6th to 8th. AI hardware applications are widely expected to be a major focus of this year's CES.
STAR Market Daily reported on January 4 that due to the rapid growth of global AI model usage, the industry has entered a stage of large-scale application explosion, and AI hardware applications will benefit from two major events in the future.
Alibaba Cloud Tongyi Intelligent Hardware Exhibition will be held in Shenzhen from January 8th to 11th. According to reports, more than 1,000 AI hardware will be on display, including various new products introduced at CES, covering more than 76 categories such as parenting, learning, work, dating, and creative applications.
The exhibition will feature over 200 participants, including smartphone manufacturers such as Honor and OnePlus, AI glasses manufacturers such as Rokid, Rayneo, and Inmo, automotive companies such as Li Auto and XPeng, robotic supply chain companies such as Lingxinqiaoshou and Zhongqing Technology, chip manufacturers such as Allwinner Technology and Lique Technology, consumer electronics manufacturers such as Insta360 and Zhongke Bluewave, and numerous toy manufacturers. More than 1,000 companies will participate.
Ahead of the Alibaba Cloud Tongyi Intelligent Hardware Exhibition, the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) will be held from January 6th to 8th in Las Vegas. AI hardware applications are widely expected to be the focus of this year's CES.
Huatai Securities pointed out that although the market in 2025 will be characterized by “cloud-side heat and end-side heat,” this CES is expected to serve as an important observation window for AI application deployment. Key areas include edge AI, industrial AI, physical AI, and automotive intelligence. The focus of investments in technology is shifting from computational infrastructure to complete technology loops that include simulation, training, and real-world deployment. Physical AI could become the central narrative that connects different sectors.
Among the highlights: Mr. Jensen Huang is scheduled to give a keynote speech in the early hours of January 6, Beijing time.
Wedbush Securities' Dan Ives expects Jensen Huang to heavily emphasize data centers, physical AI, and robotics in his keynote. Huang will also discuss recent advances in the Cosmos base model platform to accelerate AI system development into 2026, using this as a gateway to self-driving technologies such as self-driving cars.
Technology media Wccftech predicts that the release of the RTX 50 Super series may be delayed due to rising memory prices. NVIDIA may downplay consumer-grade graphics cards, and Jensen Huang may focus on elaborating its physical AI strategy to extend AI computing power into robotics and industrial applications.
Edge AI will also continue to be a focus area, from AI glasses and smart home devices to AI-powered toys.
Meta previously released the first smart glasses with a built-in screen. It is believed that the company's participation in the show may focus on showcasing new software and iterative features rather than hardware updates. Samsung may debut Galaxy XR glasses co-developed with Google and Qualcomm, and industry analysts expect the product to rival Apple Vision Pro with tight integration of Micro-OLED and Gemini AI.
Emerging smart glasses brands such as XREAL, Rokid, Yingmu Technology, and Even Realities will also appear at the CES exhibition. Alibaba is expected to unveil its first self-developed AI glasses, “Quark AI Glasses S1.''
From a smart home technology perspective, robot vacuum cleaners (e.g. Ecovacs and Dreame) no longer excessively pursue parameter improvements, but may facilitate the evolution of home appliances from single-function tools to autonomous service agents through innovations such as GaN fast charging, cyclonic isolation structures, and four-legged obstacle traversal technology.
Moreover, embodied intelligence remains an unavoidable topic in AI hardware. Analysts predict that 2026 could be the year of significant advances in the execution capabilities of humanoid robots.
Chinese manufacturers such as Unitree and Zhiyuan are likely to continue to take the lead in “cutting costs and increasing efficiency,” displaying mass-produced versions of products such as the G1 and X2, as well as core components such as dexterous robotic hands, and demonstrating their ability to operate in unstructured environments such as factory assembly lines. Overseas, Boston Dynamics' all-electric Atlas may conduct its first public demonstration of commercial potential. South Korea is expected to unveil the “K-Humanoid” alliance led by Samsung-funded Rainbow Robotics, highlighting the competitiveness of a comprehensive industrial chain from components to complete systems, and marking the transition from laboratory prototypes to practical applications in logistics and manufacturing.
China Merchants Securities recommends focusing on innovative flagship products and high-quality supply chains backed by AI, especially the premium Apple supply chain. This will continue to be a key resource for North American AI hardware leaders to compete against, along with AI PCs, wearables, IoT, robotics, and smart vehicles. In smartphone hardware, rising memory costs are having a major impact on mid- to low-end Android devices, but the impact on Apple remains manageable. This year's DouBao AI phone delivers basic agent functionality through deeper integration that requires the integration of AIOS and app-level features. With Android expected to diversify, Apple's AIOS upgrades in the first half of next year are worth watching. For PCs, Windows 11 upgrades are driving demand growth, with attention being focused on the impact on demand of AI PCs and rising memory costs through 2026. In IoT, innovations in new form factors such as AI earphones, glasses, and home devices will be a major focus by 2026. For humanoid robots, mass production schedules and design changes are critical, and the dominance of electronics companies in the robotics field cannot be ignored. Regarding smart vehicles, advanced intelligent driving is expected to enter a new phase of commercial application by 2026, driven by policy incentives and technological advances.
