Nanoleaf pivots to AI robots and red light therapy
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- Nanoleaf has launched only a handful of smart lighting products in the last two years while competitors like Govee and Philips Hue flood the market, as the company undergoes what Chu calls a "brand evolution" toward wellness, robotics, and AI.
- CEO Gimmy Chu attributes the strategic shift to the commoditization of smart lighting driven by open standards like Matter, citing Ikea selling full-color smart bulbs for around $10 that work across every platform.
- Nanoleaf plans to launch at least three embodied AI products this year — an AI-powered toy, a desk companion, and a robotic microcontroller — with one tied to early childhood development, though the company has shared no concrete feature details.
- Nanoleaf's red light therapy mask, launched in 2025, has become one of the company's top-selling products; the company is following up with a panel and wand and plans four new red light therapy devices for face and body this year, some with heating and massage/vibration settings.
- Smart lighting still accounts for 80 to 90 percent of Nanoleaf's business, and the company is rolling out Matter 1.4 support and preparing a Matter 1.5 product, with new launches planned for the IFA tech show in Berlin this fall.
- Nanoleaf was an early Thread and Matter adopter, with its smart bulb among the first Thread products to work with Apple's HomePod Mini in 2020 — groundwork Chu describes as "blood, sweat, and tears" that the delayed Matter rollout made especially painful.
Why it matters: Existing Nanoleaf customers who invested in the RGB panel ecosystem now see the company splitting its focus, even as Chu insists smart lighting remains 80-90% of revenue and new form factors are "easy." The pivot puts Nanoleaf in direct competition with well-funded AI robotics players and a crowded wellness gadget market — a high-stakes bet from a CEO who openly admits "the smart home is getting kind of boring."
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