Based in Zhongshan's Nantou Town, Aouball is an electric appliances company that specializes in R&D, production and sales of small home appliances, including coffee machines and air fryers, while expanding into other smart kitchen appliance segments.

Last year, said Aouball's manufacturing chief Wu Guoquan, the company spent 5 million yuan on upgrading the smart production facility. Its second-generation automatic coffee machines are now in full production, with lines operating at maximum capacity to fulfill orders booked through the second half to target overseas markets.

"We export products to over 80 countries and regions, with Europe and the US previously accounting for the largest share. In recent years, we are actively expanding into the Middle East, Southeast Asia and Russia markets," said Wu, adding that future plans include commercial coffee machine production and R&D of higher-tech automatic models.

To navigate patent barriers in the Euramerican market, Aouball is, on one hand, building its own "patent moat" with 418 patents, many of which are focused on structural and functional improvements, and on the other, carrying out differentiated R&D on core technologies, such as self-pressurizing extraction, intelligent temperature control and smart cleaning.