IoT Expert in Shenzhen: Huaqiangbei Electronics Market

Summary

This week I am in Shenzhen, China teaching Cypress and Distribution Engineers how to program WICED WiFi. I thought that while I was here I should go see the crazy electronics and maker scene. So, my friend Greg and I headed off to Huaqiangbei Electronics Market (华强北), then SeeedStudio (the subject of the next post)

Huaqiangbei Electronics Market

Last week I wrote an article about using hot-air rework tools to fix screwed up PCBs. As I walked around, I wasn’t really sure what to expect, but I surely didn’t expect to find tons of little shops with hot-air-tools fixing cellphones (and other unknown things). In fact over the next several hours I ran into bunches of hot-air-tools… and bunches people who Im quite sure knew how to use them.

After wandering around a bit, we found the Huaqiangbei Electronics Market. This place is a giant 8-9-10 floor electronics bazar where as best I could tell you could buy almost any electronic component you could possibly desire. It was full of little booths selling everything you could imagine, from cellphones to PCs to reels of 0603 resistors.

One of the first floors of the place was little (like 15×15 feet) shops selling LEDs.

Here is some dude bagging up and heat shrinking bunches of through-hole LEDs.

And another booth selling LEDs

Everywhere you looked there where booths over flowing with components. Here is a booth with some Rupees.. and transistors.

I dont know how you would find ANYTHING with booth after booth overflowing with reels and reels of of surface mount parts. I suppose that it would help to know what the Chinese characters on the top of the case said.