Date: November 4, 2022
On October 5, 2022, after nearly three years of joint development, the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA), alongside over 500 global tech companies, officially released Matter 1.0—a unified connectivity standard for smart home devices. Simultaneously, certification programs were launched, enabling manufacturers to test and certify their products. Once certified, products can display the Matter logo and enter the global market with standardized compatibility.
Why Matter Matters: Solving Fragmentation in Smart Homes
The smart home industry has long suffered from ecosystem fragmentation due to the use of various incompatible communication protocols (e.g., Zigbee, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi). As a result, products from different brands could not interoperate, even within the same home network. Consumers were left frustrated—unable to control Amazon Ring doorbells with Apple HomePods, or connect Xiaomi devices with Google ecosystems.
To address this, the industry launched the Project Connected Home over IP (CHIP) in 2019, later renamed Matter in 2021. The initiative aimed to unify device communication standards and enhance compatibility across brands. By mid-2022, over 50 companies had tested more than 130 products, including smart locks, switches, sensors, and lighting devices.
Technical and Commercial Transformation
Technically, Matter integrates the Zigbee Cluster Library (ZCL), Apple’s HomeKit (HAP), Google’s Weave framework, and Amazon’s Frustration-Free Setup. It supports major IP-based protocols (Ethernet, Wi-Fi, Thread) and enables cross-brand communication through a unified hub, while using BLE for quick pairing.
Commercially, Matter represents a strategic shift—from brand silos to collaborative ecosystems. Global players like Apple, Amazon, Google, and Samsung have committed heavily, marking a rare convergence in a highly competitive market.
China’s Position and Opportunities
While Matter is globally collaborative, it is still largely driven by Western companies. Among the 29 CSA board-level Promoters, most are U.S.-based firms with strong influence over Matter’s development direction. For Chinese companies, this raises strategic concerns. Blindly following the standard may not align with the long-term interests of China's proprietary IoT systems.
That said, Matter offers a chance to reshape the competitive landscape, transitioning from fragmented brand silos to alliance-level ecosystems. Companies that align early stand to benefit from reduced integration barriers and improved user experience.
Domestic Alternatives and Future Outlook
Fortunately, China is not without options. In 2020, Huawei, Alibaba, Baidu, and Haier co-founded the Open Link Association (OLA) to create domestic IoT standards. OLA is currently advancing 14 standards, covering topics such as cross-platform access and unified security protocols.
With Matter-certified products expected to launch in Q4 during the holiday shopping season, consumers will soon experience smoother interoperability. For the still-maturing smart home market, Matter serves not as a universal solution, but as a beacon of transformation—paving the way for the next stage of global IoT evolution.