AI+national style promotes significant growth in export orders for new toys

At the moment of profound changes in the global toy market pattern, China's toy industry has set off a strong wave of "going to sea" by virtue of AI technology empowerment and China-Chic cultural innovation. The Securities Daily reporter learned that the export orders of new toys represented by AI toys and programming education have increased significantly, and some enterprise orders have been scheduled until the first quarter of next year, becoming a bright spot in foreign trade exports.

This year, the trend of overseas customers chasing new products is particularly evident, especially for toys that integrate AI functions. Products are often sold out by distributors as soon as they arrive at the port. ”Zhan Junyan, General Manager of Guangdong Qimeng Toy Industry Co., Ltd., told Securities Daily reporters that the company's exports of AI intelligent pets, programming robots and other products have increased by over 200% year-on-year since the beginning of this year.

This is not an isolated phenomenon. In Chenghai, Shantou, Guangdong, known as the "Toy Capital", many toy companies are operating their production lines at full capacity. China is the world's largest producer and exporter of toys, and Chenghai in Shantou, Guangdong, known as the "Toy Capital", has a global toy market share of 60%. Huang Yixian, President of Chenghai Toy Association, introduced to Securities Daily reporters that the export proportion of AI toys by local large-scale toy enterprises has increased from less than 10% last year to around 30% currently, and smart toys are reshaping the export structure of Chenghai toys.

AI toys are very popular

Our orders have been scheduled until March next year, and the biggest concern now is that production capacity cannot keep up with demand, "the person in charge of Guangdong Weili Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd. told Securities Daily reporters. The AI programming building block robot series launched by the company this year has been very popular in the European and American markets, and the monthly export container volume has increased from 20 at the beginning of the year to 50 currently.

And AI big model toys have also gained a place in the market and have ignited products from related companies. The person in charge of Shenzhen Lanlang Innovation Technology Co., Ltd. told Securities Daily reporters that the company's astronaut AI large model implanted with DeepSeek can build its own intelligent agent. After the large model became popular, orders also skyrocketed. AI powered and educational toys are the most popular, with overall orders for AI toys increasing by over 230% compared to the same period last year.

Since the beginning of this year, the outstanding performance of AI toys has been continuing. The "2025 China AI Toy Industry Development Report" shows that in the first half of 2025, the domestic AI toy market sales will exceed 30 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 65%.

According to statistics from the General Administration of Customs, in the first three quarters of this year, China exported holiday supplies, dolls, and animal shaped toys worth over 50 billion yuan, which were sold to more than 200 countries and regions around the world, many of which were domestic trendy products. In recent years, many domestic trendy products have become global bestsellers, favored by overseas consumers, and have become a new highlight of China's foreign trade exports.

Faced with the surging market demand, toy companies have increased their R&D investment and capacity expansion.

We are no longer satisfied with simple sample processing, but have formed our own AI algorithm team to develop differentiated interactive content for children of different ages. ”Zhou Yu, Chairman of Guangzhou Xuandong Technology Co., Ltd., stated that the company has expanded its AI toy production line from 2 to 5 this year, and the proportion of R&D personnel has increased from 10% to 20%.

Recently, an agent of Yiwu International Trade City stated that their AI dinosaur toy "Ba Ba Long" sold over 5000 orders in one day, with orders continuously flowing to Southeast Asia. He revealed that the AI dinosaur series products received unexpected pre-sales on overseas crowdfunding platforms within a week of their launch, and production companies are currently accelerating mass production. ”

Deep layout of listed companies

The boom of AI toys has also driven the development of the entire industry chain, and related listed companies have increased their layout efforts.

The relevant person in charge of Xinghui Interactive Entertainment Co., Ltd. told Securities Daily reporters that the company has made AI toys a strategic development direction and has launched multiple toy products that integrate AR technology and AI interaction this year.

Aofei Entertainment Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Aofei Entertainment") established a dedicated AI toy division this year and established joint laboratories with multiple universities. An official from the Secretary General's Office of Aofei Entertainment revealed that the proportion of revenue from AI toys is continuously increasing, and market demand is also growing. The company is accelerating the development of products for AI+IP applications.

Guangdong Gaole Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Gaole Co., Ltd.") is accelerating its layout of AI toys through mergers and acquisitions. Gaole Group stated that it is deepening its "toys+technology" dual mainline strategy, promoting business structure upgrading through the integration of IP resources and intelligent technology. The company has established business relationships with hundreds of customers in nearly a hundred countries and regions, which is conducive to the rapid sale of products to various parts of the world.

In addition, intelligent manufacturing companies are also penetrating into the toy industry. Shenzhen Youbisxuan Technology Co., Ltd. has launched multiple AI educational robots for overseas markets. The relevant person in charge of the company stated that overseas sales are expected to achieve rapid growth this year.

Incorporating Chinese cultural elements

It is worth noting that a prominent feature of AI toys "going to sea" this year is the innovative integration of China-Chic culture and intelligent technology.

In the Chenghai Toy Industry Belt, an AI intelligent mecha that integrates Chinese martial arts elements has become popular on overseas video platforms, with a single review video having over 5 million views, directly driving the product out of stock in the North American market.

We have programmed Chinese Kung Fu moves into AI chips, allowing children to control mechs to perform different martial arts movements through gestures, while learning simple Chinese commands through interaction. ”The person in charge of the designer of this product told Securities Daily reporters that cultural differences are no longer obstacles, but have become the unique selling point of the product.

Wang Lei, a director of the Chinese Association for Artificial Intelligence, told Securities Daily reporters that Chinese toy companies are transforming from "manufacturing" to "intelligent manufacturing", and have formed unique international competitiveness by combining traditional Chinese cultural elements with new technologies such as artificial intelligence.

The rapid development of AI toys cannot be separated from the dual drive of policy support and technological breakthroughs.

In September 2025, the "Action Plan for Accelerating the Empowerment of Artificial Intelligence in the Toy Industry in Guangdong Province (2025-2027)" was officially issued, which clearly stated that by 2027, the operating income of the province's large-scale toy industry would reach 100 billion yuan, the penetration rate of AI toys would exceed 30%, the competitiveness of industrial clusters would be enhanced, and high-level toy industry clusters such as Shantou, Dongguan, and Shenzhen would be formed, cultivating more than 5 AI toy leading enterprises with international competitiveness

At the technical level, the maturity of technologies such as AI speech recognition, computer vision, and emotion computing has provided possibilities for innovation in smart toys. Wang Lei stated that China has advantages such as a complete industrial chain, fast market response, and strong manufacturing capabilities in the field of smart toys, but there is still room for improvement in core algorithms, chip design, and other aspects.

He believes that the rapid growth of AI toy exports is a microcosm of China's manufacturing industry's transformation and upgrading. From simple processing to intelligent creation, from OEM production to independent branding, the "going global" path of Chinese toys is a vivid manifestation of the transformation from Chinese manufacturing to Chinese intelligent manufacturing. Enterprises need to closely monitor regulatory changes in data security and artificial intelligence applications in various countries, and prepare for compliance in advance.

With the arrival of the year-end shopping season, the AI toy export boom will continue. Industry analysts believe that more and more toy companies are laying out new products next year, and intelligent products such as embodied smart toys and AI companion robots are expected to become the next growth point.

In the global trend of intelligent toy industry, Chinese toy companies have seized the opportunity with their keen market sense, rapid product iteration ability, and complete industry chain advantages, making "Made in China" toy products a new business card in the international market.