2026 Guangzhou Lighting Fair: From “Lighting” to “Smart Sensing”
From June 9 to 12 2026, the 31st Guangzhou International Lighting Exhibition (Guangya Exhibition) came to a close at the China Import and Export Fair Complex in Guangzhou. As the “barometer” and “bellwether” of the global lighting industry, this exhibition brought together more than 2,800 lighting companies from 18 countries and regions worldwide, with an exhibition area of 210,000 square meters spanning 21 exhibition halls.
Guangya Expo showcased not only technological advancements but also a complete reshaping of the industry’s logic. If past lighting exhibitions focused on selling “light sources,” the 2026 event signaled a comprehensive shift toward selling “data” and “services.”
The following are the three definitive trends in the lighting industry for 2026:
Trend 1: AI Transforms from a “Gimmick” to the “Brain”
At this year’s exhibition, AI is no longer a mere gimmick attached to smart lighting—it has become the absolute core. The event featured its first-ever AI Lighting Ecosystem Pavilion, marking the industry’s official shift from “passive response” to “active thinking.”
In the past, when we talked about “smart,” we meant “dimming via a mobile app”; this year, “smart” refers to system-level autonomous decision-making.
Take FSL as an example: its newly launched “Guang Xiaoming AI” has already achieved the shift from “people adapting to lights” to “lights adapting to people.” Meanwhile, HPWINNER’s debut of its urban lighting AI agent has broken away from the traditional model of streetlights passively receiving commands, achieving integrated data-driven operations, maintenance, and emergency response.
When lighting fixtures possess a “brain,” complex interactions between light and color, combined with sensor fusion, become the norm. This places exponentially greater demands on testing the color consistency of lighting products and the precision of sensor responses. Future testing will not only measure brightness but also assess “intelligence.”
Trend 2: Quantifying the Value of “Light Therapy”—Hard Metrics for Healthy Lighting
The term “full spectrum” has been popular for years, but in 2026, healthy lighting truly moved from a concept to “verifiable, evidence-based design.”
With the advancement of the “Healthy China 2030” strategy, lighting companies are no longer merely talking about “simulating sunlight”; instead, they are presenting concrete physiological data.
Upstream companies such as Xuyu Optoelectronics showcased specialized spectra designed to alleviate visual fatigue and regulate circadian rhythms; PAK demonstrated a circadian dimming system integrated with the HarmonyOS ecosystem, allowing color temperature and brightness to adapt to the human body’s natural rhythms.
Age-Friendly Lighting: FSL’s “Light Health + AI Monitoring” system even uses spectral light to detect falls and provide heart rate alerts, transforming lighting fixtures into guardians of household health.
With “light health” becoming a basic necessity, a light source’s spectral power distribution (SPD), color rendering index (Ra/Rf), and circadian stimulation index (CLA) have become key metrics for evaluating product value.
Trend 3: From “Selling Lights” to “Creating Scenarios”—Extreme Segmentation in Agriculture and Commerce
The biggest curatorial revolution at this year’s exhibition lies in “product scenarization and industrial ecologization.” The attribute of lighting fixtures as standalone products has been downplayed, replaced by “light recipes” tailored to specific scenarios.
Smart Agriculture: The Bio-Optics and Smart Agriculture Zone brought “plant factories” into the exhibition hall. Companies such as APT Electronics showcased customized “light recipes” for different crops, using precise spectra (such as 660nm deep red light and 450nm blue light) to regulate plant morphology—driven by an extreme pursuit of photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD).
Commercial Empowerment: Commercial lighting has evolved into an “emotional engine.” For different product categories—such as apparel and fresh produce—lighting solutions use metamerism technology to make products appear at their most “vibrant” under the lights.
Invisible services are the biggest business opportunity of the future.
At the 2026 Guangzhou Lighting Fair, 2,802 exhibitors collectively confirmed one fact: the boundaries of the lighting industry are dissolving.
As lighting learns to “think,” prioritize health, and even grow food, lighting companies are no longer selling just LEDs and housings—they are now providing data services, health solutions, and agricultural yields.