For many in China, the Rubik’s Cube evokes fond memories of childhood visits to toy or general stores. Affordable and endlessly fascinating, this cube-shaped puzzle has captivated generations with its colorful, movable parts and a deceptively simple goal: to restore each face to a uniform color. Invented by Hungarian architect Erno Rubik in 1974 as an educational tool to foster spatial thinking and memory, the Rubik’s Cube has transcended its origins to become a global phenomenon.
Capable of being scrambled in 43 quintillion ways, the Rubik’s Cube has remained a timeless challenge. Over the past 50 years, more than 500 million units have been sold worldwide.
The Rubik’s Cube is both a toy and something more. While some use it to compete in speedcubing tournaments, others have turned it into a successful business venture.
In 1998, during a train ride back to his hometown, Jiang Ganyuan received a Rubik’s Cube as a gift from his father. This endlessly twistable cube piqued his boundless curiosity. From the train ride to the walk home, Jiang constantly manipulated the cube, referring to a barely comprehensible English manual. Two days after arriving home, he solved his first Rubik’s Cube.
The twisting layers of the Rubik’s Cube intertwined with Jiang’s life. In 2006, he became China’s first champion in a speedcubing competition. Later, he turned his passion for the cube into a business, founding Ganyuan Intelligent Technology in Guangzhou in 2014. He established the Gancube brand, specializing in the production of speed cubes.
Over the next decade, Gancube’s products reached a global market, dominating niche categories on several overseas e-commerce platforms. In 2023, the company achieved an annual revenue of RMB 300 million (USD 42 million).
“If I hadn’t been in a closed environment back then, with no mobile phone to play with, and if I hadn’t been so persistent about the cube even after getting off the train, perhaps none of this would exist today,” Jiang told 36Kr.
Mastering the supply chain and expanding channels
Jiang’s early ventures into the Rubik’s Cube business was fraught with challenges. He described his pre-2012 efforts as “building cars behind closed doors,” with limited understanding of consumer needs. While his expertise gave him a nuanced understanding of the Rubik’s Cube, Jiang lacked insight into the industry’s operational aspects. As a result, the products his company initially created fell short of consumer expectations, leading to poor sales and escalating losses. The situation worsened when his partners withdrew their investments, delivering a significant setback.
During this challenging period, Jiang grappled with self-doubt, questioning whether the failure stemmed from his own shortcomings or broader market issues. Reading Steve Jobs’ biography became a turning point for him, highlighting the importance of focusing on product quality. Inspired, Jiang leveraged his status as a Rubik’s Cube champion to immerse himself in the manufacturing process. He visited factories, learning the intricate details of production and gaining a hands-on understanding of how to refine his products.
“Before that, I was simply outsourcing production to contract factories and didn’t understand any of the intricate details of cube manufacturing—I was like a frog in a well. Later, when I reentered production, I meticulously evaluated contract manufacturers. I observed how they produced molds and processed components. Since our initial order volumes were small, factories would use their downtime to manufacture for us. Sometimes they’d call me at midnight, saying they had free capacity, and I’d rush over to observe the assembly process and chat with the technicians,” Jiang said.
The relatively small scale of the Rubik’s Cube industry also meant that the supply chain lacked support and access to advanced manufacturing facilities. Today, aside from Ganyuan in Guangzhou, most leading brands are clustered in the Chenghai district of Shantou, Guangzhou.
Jiang’s early entrepreneurial setbacks made him aware of the importance of supply chains, driving him to establish his own factory. In 2023, the company relocated its production and R&D base to Chencun, Shunde, where it introduced fully automated production lines and three proprietary flexible manufacturing machines. These artificial intelligence-supported systems enable high-precision manufacturing and assembly, addressing both capacity constraints and quality assurance.
The rapid growth of Gancube is also closely tied to its diversification of sales channels. In 2019, Jiang identified the need to expand partnerships with overseas distributors. However, private sales channels alone limited the company’s ability to understand overseas consumer preferences. To bridge this gap, Gancube entered the direct-to-consumer (D2C) e-commerce space by launching on Amazon.
By 2024, Gancube aims to generate RMB 200 million (USD 28 million) in sales on Amazon, which now accounts for 80% of its overseas e-commerce business. After overcoming initial hurdles and mastering the platform’s operational nuances, the company has established smooth and profitable operations.
In Southeast Asia, Gancube joined Lazada in late 2021. Within a month, its gross merchandise value (GMV) increased tenfold, and by August, GMV had surged 83-fold, making Gancube the top seller in Lazada’s puzzle toy category and second only to Lego in the broader toy segment. Similarly, in Latin America, Gancube launched on Mercado Libre’s Mexico platform, where its official store quickly ranked among the top sellers within the first week.
However, Gancube has faced significant challenges in Southeast Asia, including allegations of counterfeiting, plagiarism, and IP violations. These hurdles underscore the complexities of operating in international markets, particularly in regions with less stringent enforcement of IP laws.
Since 2008, the global production and sales of Rubik’s Cubes have been dominated by Chinese manufacturers, with well-known brands mainly originating from China. Without this robust manufacturing base, the world would likely face a Rubik’s Cube shortage. However, the industry’s niche nature and wide variance in product pricing have created a competitive landscape.
Gancube has differentiated itself by pursuing a high-end market strategy, focusing on premium products that offer greater profitability and long-term growth potential.
Yet, Jiang has no intention of stopping there.
Selling at premium prices
With a few deft twists of his fingers, Jiang solved a scrambled Rubik’s Cube in just over ten seconds. On the other end of the app, his opponent was still busy working on a solution. The app, equipped with real-time cube state recognition and automated timing, recorded Jiang’s victory in the first round. The second round unfolded in a similar fashion—Jiang completed the cube in another ten seconds, leaving his opponent still twisting, and the match ended decisively after two consecutive wins.
The interactive, internet-connected cube in Jiang’s hand was one of Gancube’s smart cubes, a significant product innovation introduced over the past five years. Jiang believes smart cubes tackle several pain points for Rubik’s Cube enthusiasts, particularly by lowering the learning curve.
Lowering the learning barrier is a critical step. Although the Rubik’s Cube has been promoted worldwide as a puzzle toy, its high entry threshold can be discouraging for beginners. Without deliberate study and practice, most people give up shortly after starting.
When Gancube was first established, Jiang meticulously refined the instruction manual for its products. He once posted an early draft on Weibo, inviting netizens to spot errors, and gave away 100 cubes as rewards. He included the algorithms he had personally compiled and practiced for solving the cube in the manual. “If adults carefully read the manual, they can learn to solve a Rubik’s Cube in three to four hours,” Jiang said.
However, given the countless possible scrambled states of the cube, even with instructional videos or manuals, mastering the solution isn’t easy.
To address this, Gancube’s smart cubes integrate with an app that provides real-time, step-by-step guidance. The app corrects mistakes instantly, allowing users to focus on learning with minimal fuss. According to company data, smart cubes can increase the success rate of solving a Rubik’s Cube from less than 5% to around 30%.
Smart cubes operate using intelligent sensors that digitize the cube’s physical movements, creating a digital twin representation of the object. “We can represent a real object in a digital space. This is a capability of digital twin technology and a core strength of ours,” Jiang explained. This integration of hardware and software allows users to record practice sessions, receive performance feedback, and refine their solving speed.
The smart cube also supports real-time competitions. Its internet connectivity automates timing and eliminates the need for manual start-and-stop mechanisms, streamlining competitive events for greater convenience and accuracy.
The technology developed for smart cubes has been applied to other Gancube products. Features like auto-alignment, powered by over 100 embedded magnets that snap the cube into place with minimal effort, are now standard across Gancube’s lineup.
Despite their premium pricing—some models costing up to RMB 600 (USD 84)—smart cubes currently contribute less than 20% of Gancube’s revenue. To cater to a broad user base, Gancube also offers magnetic cubes, lightweight models, and cube-solving robots, ranging from beginner-friendly designs to advanced competitive tools.
Jiang emphasizes technical refinement as central to Gancube’s product philosophy. Customizable components, including corner block magnets, axle distances, and tension systems, allow players to fine-tune cubes for optimal performance.
Jiang’s perspective is rooted in the growing recognition of the Rubik’s Cube as a competitive sport. “If it were just a toy, it only needs to be visually appealing and safe. The improvements we’ve made wouldn’t matter to consumers. But as a competitive sport, our technology enables professional players to improve, even if only by 0.5 seconds. That’s critical,” he said.
Although the Rubik’s Cube isn’t a major category in the toy industry, it enjoys a dedicated following as a competitive sport. The World Cube Association (WCA), which organizes biennial speedcubing championships, has been instrumental in fostering the cube’s competitive ecosystem. Numerous local and international competitions, including provincial and university-level tournaments in China, further cement its status as a sport.
Rubik’s Cube manufacturers actively sponsor tournaments, form teams, and sign players. As a competitive sport, the Rubik’s Cube gives manufacturers room to improve product performance and price ranges while building brand influence.
According to WCA data, eight of the world’s top ten players (based on average rankings for 3×3 cube-solving) are signed with Gancube. Before launching new products, Gancube collaborates closely with these elite players, providing prototypes for feedback and fine-tuning. Jiang also maintains regular communication with top players to understand their evolving needs.
Jiang attributes Gancube’s rapid growth—from annual revenues of less than RMB 1 million (USD 140,000) at its founding in 2014 to RMB 70–80 million (USD 9.8–11.2 million) by 2019—to the increasing popularity of competitive Rubik’s Cube sports worldwide. The pandemic further accelerated this trend, as home confinement led to a surge in cube enthusiasts.
“The entire market is growing. Even if we did nothing, we’d still see 40% growth. But we put a lot of effort into our products, treating them as competitive gear,” Jiang said.
China’s manufacturing hubs, long known for producing low-cost toys, are now navigating a critical phase of transformation. Gancube’s premium, high-value strategy in the Rubik’s Cube niche serves as a compelling blueprint for other toy manufacturers seeking to break free from price wars and embrace innovation-driven, higher-value product offerings.
KrASIA Connection features translated and adapted content that was originally published by 36Kr. This article was written by Leslie Zhang for 36Kr.