Industry News

In April of this year, an AI toy named "AI Guardian Star" from Chenghai, Shantou, stood on the stage of one of the world's largest design competitions - the Italian A 'Design Award, and won a silver medal. This small guardian star opens a new window for the world to iterate and upgrade the "Chinese Toy Capital" industry.

 

Nowadays, a large number of AI toys with emotional, perceptual, and interactive functions have emerged, but they are different from traditional toys that require long-term emotional companionship after delivery, leading to multiple product upgrades and long-term service needs. This means that after a company sells an AI toy, it still needs to continue to do iterative work. In Chenghai, Shantou, the well-established collaborative model of production services and manufacturing is cultivating a fertile ground for the development of AI intelligent toys. The industry here has a solid foundation and a large number of operating entities - more than one-third of the world's plastic toys are produced in Chenghai. Multiple companies are relying on popular AI products to open up the market and explore the characteristic path of "manufacturing leads to service upgrading, and service feeds back to manufacturing development".

 

Behind the explosive AI toys, there is a complete industry chain hidden

 

AI has redefined the toy industry, turning toys into living beings with memory and evolution, and changing business models. We have shifted from 'selling a device' to 'long-term business companionship', which is a new development strategy for the industry. ”Shi Jie, Vice President of Shifeng Culture, said.

 

This year, Shifeng Culture's self-developed Mac AI Flying Rabbit can replicate the voices of loved ones in just 30 seconds of voice recording. It innovatively replaces traditional audio toys with a story interaction mode and is equipped with AI reasoning dialogue, graded oral learning, and other functions; The AI Guardian Star is equipped with AI voice interaction and intelligent image recognition functions

 

The AI toy track will only be officially laid out in 2023, and in just three years, multiple mature intelligent products have been successfully launched in Shifeng Culture. The confidence in efficient research and development comes from the complete industrial supporting system in Chenghai, Shantou. Shi Jie said, "When enterprises transform into AI intelligent toy manufacturing, they benefit from three major local improvements in Shantou: a mature industrial design team, a flexible and complete supply chain, and global trade channels. ”

 

In Shi Jie's view, the local design industry is crucial: "Chenghai Toy Design has a profound foundation. In the early years, it focused on the appearance of 'good-looking and fun', but now it values' usability and warmth 'even more. Local designers have been deeply involved in the industry for decades and can weaken the coldness of smart devices, bringing products closer to consumers in the first place

 

The advantages of flexible supply chain are also prominent. According to Shijie, the update and iteration speed of AI toys far exceeds that of traditional toys. The Chenghai flexible production line can support enterprises in lightweight and customized rapid development: "The entire set of components, design, and testing can be completed locally, which can greatly reduce time and production costs

 

Shantou is a core hub for domestic toy exports, and global trade channels continue to expand the overseas market for AI toys. In Shi Jie's view, AI toys are not just about hardware sales, but also include supporting services such as long-term operation, content updates, and remote OTA upgrades. Local mature cross-border logistics and e-commerce support also lay a solid foundation for local AI toys to go global.

 

Market practice has proven that AI toys are breaking the industry boundaries between manufacturing and service industries. With the continuous development of diversified and composite AI toys, product delivery to consumers is only the starting point of cooperation. In the future, there will be a series of content operations, emotional companionship, and functional iterations, which are the key to maintaining user stickiness and building corporate reputation. Service formats also run through all aspects of the industry.

 

Collaborative empowerment of two industries, activating new momentum of AI toys

 

Looking back at the decades long industrial development path of Chenghai, this old industrial city was once trapped in the shackles of low-end contract manufacturing for a long time. Chenghai people, who are unwilling to stay at the bottom of the industry chain, actively seek change. Countless enterprises are burying themselves in polishing original products, cultivating IP incubation and image creation, and successfully completing the industrial leap from "contract processing" to "product manufacturing". Now, with the wave of digitization and intelligence, the local area has once again entered the new track of AI toys, relying on a new model of collaboration between manufacturing and service industries, opening a new page for high-quality development of the industry.

 

In recent years, local governments, industry associations, and toy companies have continuously made efforts to complement each other from different dimensions and platforms, and a set of warm, fully covered, and fully chain industrial service ecosystems has become increasingly perfect.

 

Through in-depth visits to local industries, it can be found that the collaborative mechanism between industry, academia, and research is operating efficiently in this hot land of industry. Local experts and think tanks are regularly introduced to provide on-site guidance, and joint technological breakthroughs are carried out around key areas such as core algorithms, intelligent interaction, and human-computer dialogue, opening up the entire chain channel from creative research and development to product implementation; Industrial design, technology testing, and scientific and technological innovation consulting institutions spread throughout urban and rural areas, continuously reducing the burden and empowering small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises, and filling the technological gaps in intelligent transformation; The cultivation of various intelligent demonstration factories, unmanned workshops, and black light workshops enables the rapid replication and promotion of advanced production modes and digital management experience in the industrial chain, driving the improvement of quality and efficiency throughout the industry; Over the past few years, local exhibitions such as the Toy Fair have been upgraded to international expos, building a higher standard industry exchange and display platform, and connecting high-quality channels for local AI toys to be displayed externally and trade.

 

It is precisely by relying on such a continuously optimized industrial service system that the integration of local manufacturing and services has become increasingly deep and close, gradually forming a virtuous closed loop of manufacturing driving service upgrading and service feeding manufacturing advancement.

 

Currently, Chenghai Toys in Shantou undoubtedly enters a golden period of accelerated growth - a new blueprint for industrial upgrading driven by AI is slowly unfolding, with an endless stream of intelligent new products continuously refreshing market awareness. The deep symbiosis between the two industries has opened up unlimited possibilities for the transformation of traditional manufacturing. It can be foreseen that relying on a strong manufacturing foundation, a comprehensive service ecosystem, and sustained innovation capabilities, Shantou Chenghai will continue to unlock new heights of high-quality development in the toy industry, making the "China Toy Capital" brand shine even brighter in the AI era.

 

Journalist's note

 

From the subtle changes in an exhibition, we can see the symbiotic situation of collaboration between the two industries

 

Recently, at the Shantou Chenghai Toy Creative Industry Innovation Empowerment Development Conference, the 25th Chenghai International Toy and Gift Expo announced its scheduled golden autumn, which will be held from October 29th to November 1st.

 

The annual gaming expo has undergone a comprehensive upgrade in recent years, and the subtle changes in an exhibition reflect the development trend of the synergistic coexistence between manufacturing and service industries.

 

It is not difficult to find that in the Toy Fair, in addition to the core exhibition area of the protagonist - toy products, various productive service exhibitors such as industrial design, public computing power, IP operation, and cross-border trade have continuously joined, and their proportion continues to increase. Buyers and enterprises coming to the exhibition are no longer just buying and selling a toy, but can also simultaneously complete various deep cooperation such as industry university research docking, cutting-edge technology exchange, and global business negotiations at the exhibition site.

 

Under the support of a complete local full chain service system and a collaborative model between the two industries, facing the complex global market environment in 2025, the toy industry in Chenghai, Shantou, is still breaking through against the trend, with an annual industrial output value exceeding 50 billion yuan.

 

Behind the rapid launch and popularity of multiple intelligent products such as Qunyu Technology's Yingge AI Building Robot, Weili Intelligent Large Model Remote Control Car, and Shifeng Culture's AI Flying Rabbit, continuous support from comprehensive local supporting services is indispensable. Compared to the short chain model of one-time transactions of traditional toys, AI toys greatly extend the connection cycle between enterprises and consumers. Product delivery is only the beginning, and the subsequent links such as human-computer interaction, content updates, software upgrades, emotional operation and maintenance are long and continuous, requiring a complete system of scientific and technological innovation, computing power, and commercial services to follow up and guarantee. The two industry collaborative development model explored in Chenghai, Shantou undoubtedly highly adapts to the industrial intelligent transformation needs brought by AI, and prepares a fertile ground for the high-quality development of the toy industry.

 

(