Shenzhen tech firms expand into APEC economies

With Guangdong province's Shenzhen set to host the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in November, the city's technology companies are stepping up their expansion across the Asia-Pacific region, seeking deeper cooperation in artificial intelligence, robotics, semiconductors and other emerging sectors.

Shenzhen-based Xbrewlab Inc, which focuses on commercial and household coffee applications, has launched a pure nitrogen beverage machine that uses direct air nitrogen purification technology to replace costly and cumbersome traditional nitrogen capsules.

The technology enables users to produce high-quality nitrogen-infused drinks more easily while expanding the application scenarios for nitrogen technology, said the company's founder, Tan Tianyi.

The brand has established a foothold in the United States and Southeast Asia and is expanding into more economies across the Asia-Pacific region. Some of its products, including coffee beans, coffee scales and nitrogen beverage machines, have been selected as official souvenirs for the 33rd Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Economic Leaders' Meeting, Tan said.

"This year we have secured distribution partnerships with more APEC member economies. We hope to take advantage of this conference to invite entrepreneurs and partners to experience our new products in person," he said.

As the two-day meeting approaches, Shenzhen, a core innovation hub in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, is creating new opportunities for technological exchanges and industrial cooperation across the region.

X Square Robot, Shenzhen-based company specializing in general embodied intelligence foundation models, made the national unicorn enterprise list in July. Its technologies have been gradually deployed in high-value applications, including industrial manufacturing, logistics and elderly care services.

"We aim to explore diverse application scenarios across the Asia-Pacific, promote human-machine integration through embodied intelligence technologies and support the industrial upgrading of APEC economies with smart living solutions," said Xu Menghong, strategy and investment director of X Square Robot.

Tech firm SmartMore has also expanded its presence in global markets. Shi Xiaoliang, the company's product R&D director, said its industrial AI solutions have served more than 730 leading global enterprises.

The company focuses on core technologies including intelligent robot R&D, industrial-grade AI algorithms and intelligent sensors.

"Shenzhen's strategic position in the Greater Bay Area and its close ties with Hong Kong strongly underpin our expansion across the Asia-Pacific," Shi said. "We will further deepen technological and industrial cooperation with manufacturers and research institutions in the region to drive the digital and intelligent transformation of traditional industries," he added.

Lei Guohui, general manager of Advanced Assembly Materials China Ltd, said the company has built a cross-border R&D and production network spanning Hong Kong and Malaysia.

"The APEC platform offers valuable opportunities for upstream hard-tech enterprises in Shenzhen to showcase homegrown innovations and strengthen industrial and supply chain coordination with Asia-Pacific partners, bolstering regional collaboration in the semiconductor industry," Lei said.

Both Xbrewlab and X Square Robot were incubated at Shenzhen InnoX Academy, which was founded in 2021 by Professor Li Zexiang, a globally recognized expert in robotics and innovation education. The academy aims to nurture top-tier hard-tech entrepreneurial talent and incubate globally competitive technology startups.

Figures from the academy show that it has incubated more than 100 projects over five years, 39 of which are at the angel, or early stage of a startup, with a combined valuation of nearly 3 billion yuan ($444.8 million).

The incubated startups have strong global operations and deployment capabilities, providing hard-tech products and supporting services to markets worldwide, including all APEC member economies.

Zhang Xuechun contributed to this story.