CNBC's Eunice Yoon talks China's latest push into AI devices.

Beijing

China is intensifying its efforts to close the gap with the United States in the field of artificial intelligence, particularly in hardware. While the U.S. maintains a strong lead in AI software, Chinese companies are focusing on manufacturing AI devices, from smart glasses to workplace tools, and are already seeing widespread adoption domestically and abroad.

Over 70 Chinese firms are developing AI hardware, with products like real-time translation eyewear and meeting analysis devices gaining popularity. The rapid rollout and usage of these devices, supported by both industry and government, are creating a feedback loop that accelerates innovation and positions China as a significant player in the global AI hardware market.

China Lens: Beijing betting big on AI devices

In the race for AI dominance, the U.S. still holds a commanding lead in software, but China might be closing the gap on AI hardware. From chips to factories to the final gadget in your hand. In this week's China Lens, Eunice Yoon looks at how that country is trying to carve out its own edge in the AI race. Meta has sold millions of its AI glasses worldwide, but the Chinese have caught on. More than 70 Chinese companies are creating competitors. And in the race with the U.S. in AI, China's expertise in hardware could be an advantage. The advantage comes from the fundamental root that China is a nation of manufacturing. Today, the competition is on the software, the models, the agents, the applications. But soon, it will move to devices. And real-time translation is popular. Hi, I just arrived in China. Do you have any recommendations for restaurants? Eyewear from companies like Inmo and Rokid sell overseas. Xiaomi and Alibabas are found only in China, embedded with the tech giant's own AI. This credit card-sized AI device is meant for the workplace. From as far as 26 feet away, a large boardroom. I'm a CNBC reporter, and I have a lot of questions. The Alibaba Ding Talk A1 can record, transcribe, summarize, and analyze a meeting. When you still hear people outside China talking about what the future of an AI device might be, the market is full of AI devices here already. This creates this kind of feedback loop again to make the AIs even better. Baby, you jumped really high. This contraption using Tencent and iFlytec AI is billed as turning Chinese parents into English-speaking foreigners. An AI foreigner. It can also help foreigners chat with locals. Wow. And Eunice from the other side of the world joins me now here on set. It's like you jumped through a wormhole there. How impressive are these devices, or is it something that a phone, a smartphone, could adopt and just as easily do? Well, it's a range. I mean, when I was testing out different products, some of them a little bit clunky. I mean, you saw the translator. It felt very cumbersome. People thought I was crazy when I was asking the questions on the street. But it was surprisingly quick in terms of trying to plug it in, set it up, and then actually go out there. And that's true for, say, the Ding Talk as well. And then the glasses. I mean, the translation was really, really quick. It's just that you're seeing, because there's so many AI devices and people are embracing them, and companies are embracing them with the backing and push of the government, because of that, you just see so many more devices and so much more usage of them.

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