On September 3, the 17th Dongguan Taiwan Brand Expo 2026 (hereinafter referred to as the "2026 Dongguan Taiwan Expo") officially opened at the Guangdong Modern International Exhibition Center. Spanning four days, this year's expo is themed "Smart Integration Across the Straits, Connecting to the World." It not only showcases a vibrant cultural charm and culinary delights but also highlights cutting-edge tech exhibition zones and distinctive provincial pavilions. By seamlessly blending leisure experiences with industrial matchmaking, the event presents a spectacular showcase of technology and gastronomy for both the general public and professional buyers.
As a vital platform for cross-strait industrial exchange, the expo is co-organized by the Taiwan Affairs Office of the People's Government of Guangdong Province, the Dongguan Municipal People's Government, and the China Association of Enterprises with Taiwan Investment. Aligning closely with Dongguan's urban development strategy of "Smart Innovation for Premium Products and a Harmonious, Livable City," the exhibition layout has been restructured around the full manufacturing chain. Covering a total exhibition area of 36,000 square meters, the event reaches a record scale. It features seven major industry zones and 20 provincial and municipal pavilions, bringing together over 600 cross-strait enterprises, including Inventec and Delta, and showcasing smart manufacturing equipment and agricultural and fishery specialties from all 22 counties and cities in Taiwan. Meanwhile, the expo has attracted over 150 leading enterprises such as Huawei, OPPO, and vivo, along with more than 2,000 professional buyers for on-site negotiations, elevating the professionalism and precision targeting of the event to a new level.
At the opening ceremony held on September 3, a batch of major industrial projects was signed in a centralized ceremony, with a total investment of nearly 3 billion RMB. The signed projects include the Dongguan-Taiwan Modern Cultural and Sports Park, Phase II of the Dongguan-Taiwan High-Tech Industrial Park, Rosti Technology Smart Valley, a capital increase and production expansion project by Ti-Motion Transmission Technology, and a facility upgrade and renovation project by Rongxing Hardware. This series of significant signings fully demonstrates the firm confidence and strong momentum of Taiwan businessmen in taking root in Dongguan and deepening their presence in the mainland.
Centered on advanced manufacturing, this year's expo sees exhibitors in electronic information and mechanical equipment accounting for over 70%. Dongguan's Taiwan-invested enterprises have innovatively adopted an "exhibition layout by industry chain" model, setting up seven major industry zones covering electronics, mechanical equipment, and modern services. This approach brings together 170 high-quality local Taiwan-invested enterprises, truly realizing the vision of "zoning by industry, connecting by chain, and matching by demand." At the booth of Dongguan Shini Electric Heating Machinery Co., Ltd., the slogan "Building AI Smart Factories" is particularly eye-catching. Zhang Ziming, Head of AI Smart Factory Planning at the company, explained that in an AI smart factory, the system can automatically generate daily Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) analysis reports, covering key metrics such as equipment utilization rate, performance efficiency, and product yield rate. "If any anomaly occurs on the production floor, the system will immediately issue an alert and automatically adjust equipment parameters," Zhang noted. He added that under the traditional model, these data relied on manual on-site recording, and without experienced veterans, it would take multiple adjustments to achieve the desired results, significantly compromising production efficiency. On one side of the booth, a robotic arm is precisely grasping, smoothly moving, and accurately placing products in one seamless motion. As a national leader in plastic auxiliary machinery, Shini has participated in the Dongguan Taiwan Expo for many consecutive years. Zhang candidly shared, "This industry is highly specialized. We hope to leverage the platform of the Taiwan Expo to further enhance our industry visibility and showcase our advanced equipment and technological prowess."
Beyond the intelligent upgrading of traditional manufacturing, the expo also gathers numerous eye-catching cutting-edge innovative products. Guangdong Tiantai Robot Co., Ltd. made its debut with a smart robotic coffee kiosk, instantly becoming the focus of the event. Wang Wanzhao, Sales Director, introduced that the product took nearly a year to develop and can produce 200 cups of coffee a day under 24/7 operation, with an output speed of about one cup every two minutes. "We brought this product here mainly to let people experience and verify whether it can truly replace manual coffee making, while also testing its market viability in the hope of finding partners," Wang stated.
At the booth of the Songshan Lake Cross-Strait Youth Entrepreneurship Base, a stringless guitar and a flying-wing drone also attracted large crowds of visitors. Huang Yaojian, Business Development Manager, introduced that the stringless guitar is specially designed for beginners. It can automatically recognize pitch based on fingerboard patterns, and once connected to a mobile app, users only need to follow the indicator lights and gently touch the strings to play complete songs. The guitar body is also foldable, making it lightweight and easy to store. The other product, a flying-wing drone by Feiyi Aviation, focuses on immersive flight experiences. It features vertical takeoff, a top speed of 120 km/h, and is equipped with a 360-degree head-mounted display, allowing users to control it from a first-person perspective as if sitting in a real cockpit.
Beyond hardcore technology, this year's Taiwan Expo has stepped up its support for expanding the mainland market for Taiwanese agricultural and fishery products, upgrading the Taiwan Specialty Gift Zone. The zone newly features specialty pavilions for Taoyuan, Taichung, Tainan, and Yunlin, bringing together 150 enterprises from the island—a surge of over 60% in the number of exhibitors. Adopting a "one hit product per county or city" model, the zone showcases agricultural and fishery specialties such as Alishan high-mountain tea and Hualien pomelo. Chen Weicheng, head of Liangshen Farm from Yunlin County, Taiwan, is attending the expo for the first time. He enthusiastically promoted their products, saying, "We want to use the Dongguan Taiwan Expo to promote Taiwan's native red quinoa to the mainland, given its high nutritional value." Currently, the farm has developed over ten products using red quinoa, including biscuits, coffee, and sweet potato crisps, which are highly popular among visitors on-site.
Since its inception in 2010, the Dongguan Taiwan Expo has been held for 16 consecutive sessions, facilitating cooperation intentions totaling 44.87 billion RMB. Today, the expo has evolved into an exhibition and sales platform for Taiwan-invested products with national influence, as well as a showcase window for the integrated development of cross-strait industries, continuously injecting new vitality into cross-strait economic and trade cooperation.