36Kr Research Institute | 2026 China Intelligent Hardware Industry Development Research Report

Currently, AI technology is accelerating its penetration and deepening into various fields of the real economy. Intelligent hardware, as the core carrier of AI capabilities in physical scenarios, has entered a critical development stage of upgrading product capabilities and increasing industrial value. Survey data from Tencent Research Institute in March 2026 showed that 80.8% of domestic consumers have purchased or used at least one type of AI-related hardware products, and 32.0% of them said they will increase related consumer spending in the next three months. The consumer market demand has a stable and upward support foundation. At the same time, underlying technologies such as on-device AI chips, lightweight large models, and multi-sensor fusion continue to make breakthroughs, driving intelligent hardware to gradually reduce its dependence on cloud computing power. The ability of local independent perception, analysis and decision-making, and function iteration continues to increase, and the digital empowerment effect on the industrial side has also been significantly improved and enhanced. However, industry development still faces practical challenges such as intensified fragmented competition, pressure on supply chain costs, insufficient implementation of large-scale scenarios, and upgraded data security compliance requirements. The traditional growth path that relies on stacking hardware parameters and low-cost OEM production has been difficult to adapt to the competitive requirements of the original stage of AI. Based on the above industry background, 36Kr Research Institute released the "2026 China Intelligent Hardware Industry Development Research Report", which systematically sorts out the industry development context and industrial ecological pattern, disassembles the upgrading directions of the upper, middle and lower reaches of the industrial chain, and combines the practices of typical enterprises to study and judge future technology evolution, scenario expansion and globalization layout trends, providing multi-dimensional decision-making reference for all participants in the industry. China's smart hardware has entered the early stage of AI-native development, and terminal-side independent intelligence is reconstructing the core logic of products. Domestic smart hardware has completely completed the single-product intelligence stage and is currently transitioning from scene interconnection to AI-native intelligence. The new generation of intelligent hardware has embedded local AI computing units during the research and development stage, which can independently complete environment perception, multi-modal interaction and dynamic decision-making without the cloud, breaking the limitations of traditional fixed linkage instructions. The core competitiveness of products has shifted from hardware specifications to end-side AI experience. Both the consumer end and the industrial end have launched differentiated innovations around local independent intelligence capabilities. The industry as a whole has entered a key node in the intelligent paradigm switch. Whole industry chain