As mature products like PCs and smartphones enter a phase where there is little room for further competition, the industry has begun to deeply contemplate and experiment with the “next generation of hardware devices”.
Whether it is tech giants or small to medium-sized hardware manufacturers, there is a proactive layout for the “next Apple” track. From AI glasses, robots, drones, to other wearable devices, the market is attempting to create entirely new interaction methods, using technological innovation to accurately target high-value scenarios.
The industrial value of this technological revolution has been precisely captured by leading platforms. This year at the Hangzhou Yunqi Conference, Alibaba Cloud and Tmall jointly announced the launch of the “AI New Category Joint Plan” to jointly promote the accelerated development of the AI-driven smart hardware industry. Just past the Double Eleven shopping festival, AI hardware has also risen to become a popular category on major platforms, with consumers quietly accepting AI into their daily lives.
01 Bringing Smart Hardware to Consumers
The arena of smart hardware is not exclusive to leading players, but small and medium-sized enterprises face dual challenges of technology and market to break through.
Starting from the origin of hardware manufacturing, the challenge is not only the competition in hardware manufacturing but also the deep integration of connectivity, data, and intelligence. For hardware manufacturers, merely producing products is not enough; differentiation capability is becoming the key to future competition. This means that a significant amount of resources must be allocated to technology research and development, with AI large models becoming a breakthrough to alleviate technological pressure.
However, the reality is not so easy. Currently, many AI large models have emerged in the market, but most remain at the stage of general model output and cannot specifically solve the problems of individual enterprises. The high costs of secondary development and traffic have left many small and medium-sized enterprises in a wait-and-see stage.
For some technology-driven enterprises, product research and development may not yet pose a real obstacle, but entering the market conversion stage is a state of being completely in the dark: how to reach target customers? How to expand sales channels? How to effectively market products?
The high threshold of technology research and development and the high difficulty of market conversion are the survival battles faced by smart hardware manufacturers.
In light of these industry insights, Alibaba Cloud and Tmall decided to collaborate deeply across multiple dimensions such as organization, policy, traffic, channels, and market, achieving complementary support on both the technology and market sides,bringing opportunities to redefine products in the hardware field.
At this year’s Yunqi Conference, Zhang Liang, Vice President of Alibaba Cloud Intelligent Group and President of the SME Division, along with Gong Cheng, General Manager of Tmall 3C Digital & Operator Industry, and co-founders of Lingyu Universe and XREAL, as well as marketing director of Yuanluobo, Cui Xiaolong, jointly attended the launch ceremony of the “AI New Category Joint Plan”,marking the beginning of the “Cloud + Tmall” collaboration to empower the smart hardware industry.
On the technology side, Alibaba Cloud will maximize the advantages of AI large models, cloud computing, and edge-cloud collaborative technologies. Its latest generation of the Tongyi Qianwen model Qwen3 ranks first globally in the authoritative open-source model evaluation list Live Bench, surpassing top closed-source models like o3High and Gemini 2.5pro in instruction-following capabilities.Currently, Alibaba Cloud has formed a full-stack layout from AI computing power infrastructure, cloud platform services, large model research and development to open-source ecology and large-scale applications.Alibaba Cloud has assisted 1 million small and medium-sized enterprises in implementing AI applications, and this number is still growing exponentially.
On the market side, to support the development of AI hardware, the Tmall platform has completed four optimizations, involving eSIM integration, in-site AI category search recommendations, trade-in policies, and multi-channel construction.
Alibaba Cloud and Tmall aim to do even more. It is not just a simple integration of platform resources; in fact, this joint support plan covers key areas such as XR devices, smart robots, and drones, providing substantial sincerity from four major directions.
In terms of independent organizational support, both parties have established a joint project team and have already held the first smart product recruitment meeting in Shenzhen; in terms of independent policy customization, customized rebates, traffic, and operational support will be provided for smart products based on Alibaba Cloud AI capabilities; in terms of independent resource allocation, all new AI products will enjoy exclusive growth incentives, marketing IP (such as Double Eleven, Red Cat Plan), and market exposure; and there will also be independent technical support, with Alibaba Cloud providing exclusive one-on-one technical support and model-specific discounts.
Currently, the consumer acceptance and demand for AI hardware have undergone a leap forward.Data from Tmall shows that by 2025, the transaction volume of smart glasses will increase 13 times year-on-year,the search volume for “robot dogs” has surged 14 times, and AI 3D printers sold out immediately upon launch.And the implementation of the joint plan is precisely to allow more small and medium-sized enterprises to share in this market dividend.
02 Value Validation of Pioneers
Who will be the first to validate the value of the joint plan? At least on-site, fromLingyu Universe and Yuanluobo, we can already clearly see various paths empowered by the dual platforms.
The first product of Lingyu Universe, the portable AI hardware “Lingyu Universe Small Square Machine”, is a smart companion product. This is a rapidly growing track,with data from Beizhesi Consulting showing that the global companion robot market size reached 75 billion yuan in 2023, and is expected to exceed 300 billion yuan by 2029.This is not just a number that can be seen but not touched,
relying on the multimodal interaction capabilities of Alibaba’s Qianwen large model, the Lingyu Universe Small Square Machine has achieved the definition of “AI Native, Voice First”.Through FaceTime interaction, the AI can “see” the real world; when a child points to a tree by the roadside, the device can instantly analyze the species and growth characteristics of the plant; leveraging Alibaba Cloud’s situational awareness algorithms, the product can proactively generate exploratory interactive rooms based on the child’s interests and memories,truly realizing that “the world is a classroom”.
In terms of market implementation, Tmall can help Lingyu Universe’s innovative scenarios accurately reach target users.For example, through the Xiaohongshu “Red Cat Plan”, Tmall helps Lingyu Universe create a content matrix for “Outdoor Exploration Diary”.
This year’s Double Eleven, the Lingyu Universe Small Square Machine performed outstandingly in the market, achieving a month-on-month growth of over 231% in total sales across all channels, and also topped the JD Double Eleven sales chart for infant and toddler toys as well as AI toys.
Similarly focusing on family scenarios, Yuanluobo has launched chess robots, Go robots, international chess robots, and multi-functional robots, successfully creating the “home chess-playing robot” category.
For example, the recently released four-in-one AI chess robot has officially integrated with Alibaba Cloud’s Tongyi Qianwen Qwen3,and leveraging Qwen3’s powerful language understanding, logical reasoning, and generation capabilities, Yuanluobo has evolved from merely “teaching chess” to becoming a multi-dimensional “super coach + growth partner”.
In the future, with the help of the joint plan, Yuanluobo can reach the 88VIP customer group through Tmall’s trade-in policy, quickly penetrating the sinking market and mid-to-high-end families.
03 The Eve of Industry Explosion
The AI smart hardware industry is already on the eve of explosion.
Currently, the technological foundation has entered a stage of full maturity.Alibaba Cloud’s AI large models have lowered the R&D threshold, and technologies like Tongyi Qianwen Qwen3 enable small and medium-sized manufacturers to create products that are “soulful”; technology is no longer the “moat” of a few enterprises.
Thanks to the explosion of technology, market demand has been completely activated. Consumer acceptance of AI hardware has shifted from “trying it out” to “a necessity”.China’s family smart hardware scale is rapidly climbing, and companies like Lingyu Universe and Yuanluobo are facing a trillion-level incremental market; while Tmall’s platform and trade-in policies further lower the consumption threshold, turning “want to buy” into “can buy”.
Alibaba Cloud’s technological foundation and Tmall’s market expansion pave the way for “good technology” to quickly transform into “good business”, also allowing more small and medium-sized enterprises to seize market dividends.
When the technological foundation is solid enough, market demand is strong enough, and ecological collaboration is efficient enough,the explosion of the AI smart hardware industry is no longer a “future possibility” but is “happening now”, and it will surely spark more AI innovations in the market.
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