Dongguan, Guangdong Province, recently held a press conference to unveil its "Overall Plan for the Construction of Dongguan's Global Intelligent Manufacturing Center (2026-2030)". Notably, all speakers at the event wore AI smart glasses manufactured by Dongguan Silike Electronic Technology Co., Ltd. Weighing only 48 grams with a battery life of up to 10 hours, these glasses feature real-time translation, navigation, notifications, and an AI large model assistant. This marked the world's first press conference fully conducted using AI smart glasses, demonstrating Dongguan's commitment to advancing its global intelligent manufacturing hub ambitions.
The city plans to leverage its strong manufacturing foundation to comprehensively drive the transformation of its manufacturing sector towards higher-end, intelligent, and green development, aiming to build a globally influential intelligent manufacturing center.
Hardcore Products Take the International Stage The 139th China Import and Export Fair (Canton Fair) was recently held in Guangzhou. Dongguan was represented by 485 enterprises, including 247 high-quality firms such as high-tech enterprises, specialized and sophisticated SMEs, and manufacturing champions, marking the first time such high-quality enterprises accounted for over 50% of the city's participants. Among them was Guangdong Ousike Technology Co., Ltd., which showcased multiple visual technology products. The company's founder, Liu Mingjian, introduced their holographic display series with a transparency rate of up to 80%, requiring only a single cable for high-definition display, breaking the installation limitations of traditional display equipment and adapting to diverse scenarios like glass curtain walls and automotive film screens. The company has already partnered with well-known enterprises, serving over 3,000 clients globally, and its products hold nearly a 50% market share in the high-end e-sports market.
As an internationally renowned manufacturing city, Dongguan boasts a complete industrial system and comprehensive supply chain, covering over 80% of major industrial categories. It hosts four national-level advanced manufacturing clusters, and its number of large-scale industrial enterprises ranks among the top three nationwide. Building on this robust manufacturing strength, Dongguan has cultivated leading industries and flagship products with significant market share: it produces one-fifth of the world's smartphones and one-quarter of animation derivatives. Additionally, it accounts for 85% of China's trendy toy production capacity, one-tenth of the nation's AI server output, and is one of the three major national production bases for core snooker products.
Today, Dongguan's advantageous products, including AI smart glasses, smartwatches, and printed circuit boards, are deeply integrated into global industrial chains. This lays a solid foundation for its goal of building a globally influential intelligent manufacturing center.
Top-Level Design Charts the Path for Advancement On May 5th, the Dongguan Municipal People's Government signed an investment intent agreement with EcoCeres, a Hong Kong-incubated sustainable fuel producer. The collaboration aims to establish the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area's first complete sustainable aviation fuel industrial chain in Dongguan.
Dongguan's superior geographical location and well-developed industrial ecosystem have attracted a large number of projects. Facing increasing opportunities and challenges, how will Dongguan leverage its strengths? The recently released "Overall Plan" provides the direction: anchoring the core goal of leaping from the "World Factory" to a "Global Intelligent Manufacturing Center"; focusing on technological innovation and industrial upgrading as two key thrusts; and seizing three critical windows of opportunity—AI technology iteration, global supply chain restructuring, and coordinated development within the Greater Bay Area.
Zeng Jianpeng, Member of the Dongguan Municipal Party Committee Standing Committee and Executive Vice Mayor, explained that Dongguan will implement an AI-enabled manufacturing project to explore a "global model" for the deep integration of artificial intelligence and the real economy. Leveraging platforms like the National AI Application Pilot Base, Dongguan plans to develop over 50 industry-specific vertical large models for the industrial sector, aggregate high-value industrial datasets from its "8+8+4" key industries, achieve breakthroughs in areas like machine vision inspection, intelligent production scheduling, and 3D virtual simulation, and drive the intelligent transformation of manufacturing.
Aiming to comprehensively enhance the international influence and global competitiveness of "Dongguan Intelligent Manufacturing," the city will focus on breaking through core technologies to achieve an energy-level leap in the global industrial division of labor. Specific measures include focusing on the development and application of cutting-edge, key core technologies, implementing no fewer than 60 major scientific and technological projects, and conducting integrated collaborative research across entire industrial chains. It will also establish centers like the OpenHarmony/openEuler Hardware Co-creation Center and the Intelligent Manufacturing Scenario Innovation Center, create over 200 benchmark "AI + Manufacturing" application scenarios, and cultivate 50 intelligent factories at an "advanced" level or above.
Zeng Jianpeng stated that Dongguan's leap from the "World Factory" to a "Global Intelligent Manufacturing Center" represents a profound transformation of the city's industrial DNA. This signifies a fundamental shift in the development logic of Dongguan's manufacturing sector, an overall elevation of its value framework, and a strategic repositioning of its global standing.
Guiding Actions to Promote Integration of Science and Industry Building a global intelligent manufacturing center is inseparable from the guiding force of technological innovation. Dongguan hosts several high-level scientific and innovation platforms, including the China Spallation Neutron Source, the Institute of Materials Science and Technology (Dongguan) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Greater Bay Area University, and the Songshan Lake Materials Laboratory, providing solid support for technological breakthroughs.
Recently, a team led by Academician Wang Weihua at the Institute of Materials Science and Technology (Dongguan) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences achieved another breakthrough, realizing the mass production and delivery of their self-developed high-frequency soft magnetic nanocrystalline alloy. The team applied artificial intelligence across the entire chain from component design and performance prediction to process optimization and industrial implementation, effectively addressing pain points in traditional material development such as long R&D cycles, high trial-and-error costs, and performance optimization difficulties. This marks a critical step in the industrialization of amorphous materials. The material has already achieved scaled mass production and gained market recognition, with projected annual sales exceeding ten million yuan. The team is actively expanding industrial cooperation, partnering with companies like Dongguan Yumiao Nano Technology Co., Ltd., which possess advantages in end markets, to promote the large-scale application of this material in key scenarios such as new energy vehicle electronic controls and onboard power supplies, cumulatively driving over 100 million yuan in additional downstream output value.
Xu Xinrong, Director of the Dongguan Municipal Bureau of Science and Technology, stated that Dongguan will fully implement actions guided by technological innovation, focusing on deeply integrating scientific and technological innovation with industrial innovation. The city will effectively strengthen platform construction and project organization, use fundamental research to grasp the core lifeline of industrial chain upgrading, rely on high-level innovation entities to build powerful platforms and fully utilize major scientific facilities, and leverage next-generation AI technologies to help tackle core technologies at the source in fields like semiconductors and integrated circuits, new materials, and biomedicine.
Furthermore, Dongguan will enhance its control over industrial chains through technological innovation, focusing on building innovation consortia and organizing the implementation of major scientific and technological projects. By strengthening the guiding role of "chain leader" enterprises, it will conduct integrated collaborative research across entire industrial chains. It will also accelerate the commercialization of research outcomes through pilot-scale verification, establishing 50 municipal-level concept validation centers or pilot platforms to achieve full coverage of strategic emerging industries and future industries, aiming to build a "City of Pilot-Scale Verification."
"By emphasizing the pull of industrial demand and the transformation of scientific and technological achievements, Dongguan is accelerating the construction of a full-process innovation chain, comprehensively enhancing the overall efficiency of its scientific and technological innovation system, and providing technological support for the leap from 'World Factory' to 'Global Intelligent Manufacturing Center'," said Xu Xinrong.
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