Rokid, a Hangzhou-based maker of smart glasses, is preparing to file for a Hong Kong listing as early as the end of April, according to sources familiar with the matter, as artificial intelligence-powered eyewear gains traction in the mainstream market.

The planned listing comes as global and domestic technology groups including Meta Platforms and Apple, as well as China’s Alibaba Group Holding – through the brand name Quark – Baidu, Xiaomi and Huawei Technologies, all rush into the market. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.

A growing number of start-ups are also vying for attention, including Rokid, INMO and RayNeo, a sub-brand of TCL, while tapping capital markets to fund expansion. Xreal, a Beijing-based maker of glasses focused on augmented reality (AR), filed for a Hong Kong initial public offering last week.

Rokid said on Wednesday it was capable of pursuing an initial public offering, but plans had yet to be finalised.

Rokid was co-founded in 2014 by CEO Misa Zhu Mingming, who studied at Zhejiang University and University of California, Berkeley, before launching a start-up that was acquired in 2010 by Alibaba, where he led an innovation lab.

The company makes both industrial and consumer-grade AR glasses, as well as AI-powered eyewear, a format popularised by Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses.

Rokid’s AI glasses, which feature dual-eye monochrome displays, integrated cameras and audio, support real-time translation, a teleprompter function, conversational AI, navigation and eye-scanning payment.