Will Wang, CEO of Chinese smart glasses startup Even Realities — the latest Chinese company to surpass a valuation of $1 billion — has said that consumer electronics startups will have a better chance of becoming the next Apple in Shenzhen than in Silicon Valley.
"If we want to build a future based on consumer electronics, and if we truly want to create a company that rivals Apple, we need to be at the heart of the hardware industry, and that is what Shenzhen represents," Wang said, pointing to the city's abundance of engineering talent and its dominance over supply chains, according to CNBC.
Wang, who previously worked as an engineer at Apple, explained that Silicon Valley has lost some of its appeal for founders developing hardware products, as they look to avoid long development cycles and lower returns compared with artificial intelligence applications.
Many Chinese startups are eyeing the AI-related consumer hardware space, betting on the country's manufacturing strength to compensate for America's superiority in software.
When asked whether the startup was deliberately raising funding exclusively from Chinese investors, Wang said its Chinese backers "move faster and are closer to us," though the next funding round would target "more global investors."