At the beginning of the explosion of the concept of “meta-universe”, the science and technology circle and the capital circle were highly concerned, and how many enterprises attracted attention because their products or technologies were related to the concept.  

However, with the passage of time, concepts such as “West-to-East Power Transmission”, “West-to-East Gas Transmission”, and “East-To-West Counting” have become extinct, and the “meta-universe” has gradually faded out of the public vision. So, has the heat of the “metaverse” disappeared? Has the “metacosm” vent passed?  

“Metacosm” cooling?  

In the past, Facebook changed its name to “Meta”, adding fuel to the heat of the metaverse. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg also said when changing the name, “This (metacosm) will be an important part of the next chapter in the development of the Internet after the mobile Internet.” ”

However, the highly anticipated metaverse is not currently a surprise for Meta. According to Meta’s financial report, Reality Labs, its division responsible for meta-universe business, lost $10.19 billion in fiscal 2021, while revenue was only $2.27 billion.  

Coincidentally, Roblox, known as the “first stock in the metacosm”, had revenue of $1.919 billion in fiscal 2021, an increase of 108% compared to fiscal year 2020; net loss of $491 million, compared with a net loss of $253 million in 2020 – doubling revenue and widening the loss gap.  

China’s meta-universe concept stocks also frequently suffer losses or performance declines: Zhongqingbao lost 46.2261 million yuan in 2021; SenseTime’s net loss expanded from 12.158 billion yuan in 2020 to 17.177 billion yuan in 2021; perfect world achieved a net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies of 371.1775 million yuan in 2021, but compared with 1548.5034 million yuan in 2020, it still fell by 76.03%.  

On the other hand, the influence from the government regulatory level has also made the development of the metacosmity “cold”:  

On December 23, 2021, in the article “How the Metaverse Rewrites Human Social Life”, it is suggested that with the popularity of the metacosm topic, some routines that use related concepts to “circle money” are also emerging, and there may be various risks such as capital manipulation, public opinion touting, and economic risks;  

On February 18, 2022, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) issued the “Risk Tips on Preventing Illegal Fund-raising in the Name of “Meta-Universe””, pointing out that some lawbreakers rubbed hot spots and absorbed funds in the name of “Meta-Universe Investment Project” and “Meta-Universe Chain Tour”, and were suspected of illegal fund-raising, fraud and other illegal and criminal activities. This is also the first regulatory directive of Metacostem in China;  

On February 22, 2022, the Meta-universe Industry Self-Discipline Convention was officially released, which clearly proposed to resolutely resist the use of meta-universe hotspot concepts for capital speculation and avoid the formation of market bubbles.  

In addition, on February 21, 2022, the State Intellectual Property Office said that there were about 16,000 trademark applications related to “Metacosm” and “METAVERSE” in the trademark database. In accordance with the Provisions of the Trademark Law and its relevant regulations, the State Intellectual Property Office shall examine the application for trademark registration related to “Metacosmos” and “METAVERSE” in accordance with the law.  

The State Intellectual Property Office also pointed out in particular that it resolutely opposes and severely cracks down on malicious trademark registrations such as “rubbing hot spots” and not hoarding for the purpose of use.  

It is reported that trademark applications, including Xiaohongshu Meta-Universe, iQIYI Adventure Meta-Universe, Exploration Meta-Universe, etc., have been rejected for review.  

From the capital market to the supervision of government departments, the development of the metacosmity seems to have been poured with cold water. So, is this really the case?  

The answer, of course, is no.  

The metacosm has the positive effect of gathering attention and integrating the common development of multiple industries, and there is also a negative side that is prone to bubbles, which needs to be viewed dialectically.  

In addition, the popularization of the metacosm is unlikely to be fast, and its unsatisfactory performance in the capital market is a normal phenomenon, and the supervision of policies is conducive to allowing the metacosm to find a balance between development and security. Therefore, the “cold water” poured at this time is precisely to bring a “cold thinking” to the development of the metaverse, so that people can rationally look at the gap between the future of the metaverse and the present, not excessively consume the heat of the metaverse, and let the metacosm move from “virtual fire” to “real fire”.  

Taking LED companies as an example, the metacosm has become a common track of the entire industry chain, and related companies are actively touching the metacosm on their own original tracks and actively touching the metacosm through related technologies, products and solutions.  

LED enterprise pathfinding meta-universe  

A major feature of the metacosm is “immersion”. Based on this, whether it is VR/AR equipment or a large screen that can bring the experience of virtual and real integration, it has become the focus of attention of LED companies.  

LED Chip companies:  

LED chip companies generally believe that Mini backlight and Micro LED technology will be applied to VR/AR equipment on a large scale. Among them, Mini backlight technology is mainly used in low-end VR products, while Micro LED has excellent performance in contrast, reaction time, energy consumption, viewing angle, resolution and other aspects, and is one of the best display technologies for VR/AR equipment, but it is limited by technology and cost, and it mainly appears in concept products at this stage.  

At present, LED chip companies are actively exploring the application of Mini/Micro LED technology in the metaverse.

Packaging enterprise:  

While optimistic about the application prospects of Mini/Micro LED display technology in the metaverse, packaging companies have also pointed out the main challenges facing Mini/Micro LED at present.  

Among them, Ruifeng Optoelectronics pointed out that OLED can not meet the requirements in terms of high brightness and reaction speed, and VR/AR urgently needs the blessing of Mini/Micro LED technology in subsequent promotion applications, and the main challenges faced by Mini/Micro LED mainly come from cost.  

Zhongqi Optoelectronics further pointed out that Micro LED is relatively easy to achieve high brightness, but it needs to overcome the technical problems of transfer.  

Jinko Electronics believes that Mini/Micro LED display technology has broad prospects, and cost, yield, etc. are the main challenges that currently exist.  

The difficulties are numerous, but packaging companies are actively overcoming them.  

Among them, Guoxing Optoelectronics is the first unit in China to independently develop a glass-based active drive Micro LED full-color display module with a point spacing of less than 0.3mm, and the company has independently developed a high-consistency pixelated quantum dot color conversion color film preparation technology. In the field of MiniLED, the IMD-M04 device launched by it is the world’s highest package density MiniLED direct display package product.  

Hongli Zhihui has stepped up its layout in different links such as equipment and technology in order to achieve technological breakthroughs. Among them, in terms of equipment, Hongli Zhihui believes that the transfer of equipment is the top priority. In addition to cooperating with Japan and South Korea, Chinese mainland and Taiwan transfer equipment enterprises, Hongli Zhihui also cooperates with Huagong University, and has planned to customize a huge amount of transfer equipment.  

Through cooperation with downstream display customers and scientific research units, MTC Optical Element will study the substrateless Micro LED huge transfer technology and the transparent TFT backplane bonding technology, and it is expected that the design and development of Micro LED display products and small batch trial production can be realized in the next 2-3 years.  

In addition, Jinko Electronics relies on the existing MiniLED technology platform to carry out technical layout in the high-precision transfer and coating of Micro LED technology; Zhongqi Optoelectronics has independently developed patented huge transfer technology and fully automatic production line, and its huge transfer yield has reached 99.999% in 2021… In short, the package side is constantly overcoming the technical problems of Mini/Micro LED and making progress in the metaverse field.  

LED Display enterprises:  

Different from the upstream chip and midstream package, display companies pay attention to the opportunities of small-size screens in the metaverse era, and also pay attention to the application of the world of virtual and real integration created by LED large screens under the concept of metaverse.  

Among them, a number of Leyard’s subsidiaries are carrying out the layout of the whole industry chain in the field of meta-universe. For example, Virtual Motion Point is the world’s leading 3D optical motion capture company; Dehuo Technology focuses on the research and development and application of AR and MR related technologies; and Fuxin Technology is committed to the research and development of “inertial motion capture system”. Leyard has also invested in magic leap, which focuses on wearable augmented reality technology, and Shuhu Images, which focuses on immersive interactive experience products for large-scale cultural tourism projects.  

Zhou Ming Technology said that Micro LED can be applied to any display application from the smallest to the largest size. In the future, Micro LEDs will expand from flat panel displays to AR/VR/MR, space displays, flexible transparent displays, wearable/implantable optoelectronic devices, optical communications/optical interconnection, medical detection, smart car lights and many other fields.  

It is understood that Zhouming Technology has a strong brand influence in the field of large-screen display and solutions for XR virtual shooting applications, and its subsidiary Radiant’s XR virtual production products are not only widely used in international film and television production scenes such as Hollywood, but also cooperate with many domestic film and television academies, iQiyi and other film and television platforms to build film and television studios.  

In addition, in December 2021, Zhouming Technology also established a joint venture with a team of technical experts to establish Shenzhen Tianqu Star Technology Co., Ltd. for the development of technical products in the wearable field such as VR/AR.  

LEDMAN believes that the metacosm is a huge market opportunity for Micro LED displays, whether in the field of ultra-large Micro LED displays or in the field of small size Micro LED displays. At present, LEDMAN is actively laying out immersive display technology based on Micro LED, including naked-eye 3D, XR virtual shooting, etc.  

It is understood that the display scene simulated by LEDMAN’s COB ultra-high-definition naked-eye 3D products has the characteristics of large display area, high screen clarity, strong visual impact, etc., and with realistic sound effects, the viewer can produce an immersive experience. At present, LEDMAN has created a number of projects such as 8K ultra-high-definition naked-eye 3D display on Beijing Road Pedestrian Street in Guangzhou.  

AOTO pointed out that the virtual simulation training room uses LED high-resolution stereoscopic technology, three-dimensional computer graphics technology and audio technology to create a fully immersive virtual environment. However, AOTO also pointed out that solving the naked-eye 3D technology of micro-pitch LED display and how to make LED displays interactive will be a major challenge for immersive LED application scenarios.  

It is understood that AOTO set up a subsidiary, Creative Digital Dimensions, in early 2021, and is committed to providing customers with professional virtual digital people, virtual venues, naked-eye 3D, creative interactive applications and other content products and services.  

Metacosm: the “second growth curve” of LED companies  

On January 24, 2022, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology held a press conference on the development of small and medium-sized enterprises. Liang Zhifeng, director of the Small and Medium-sized Enterprise Bureau of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said at the meeting that the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will focus on cultivating a group of “small giant” enterprises that are deeply rooted in the professional fields of industrial Internet, industrial software, network and data security, intelligent sensors, etc., and cultivate a group of innovative small and medium-sized enterprises that have entered emerging fields such as meta-universe, blockchain, and artificial intelligence.  

In terms of local governments, at present, Beijing, Zhejiang, Shanghai, Wuhan, Hefei and other provinces and cities have included the “meta-universe” in the development plan. Among them, Tongzhou District of Beijing has issued a series of industrial ecological support and development policies including policies related to the meta-universe; the Shanghai Economic and Information Commission has emphasized the need to lay out a new track of the meta-universe, develop application scenarios, and cultivate key enterprises; binhu District of Wuxi City, Jiangsu Province, launched the “Taihu Bay Science and Technology Innovation Belt Leading District Meta-universe Ecological Industry Development Plan”, aiming to build an international innovation highland and a domestic meta-universe ecological industry demonstration zone.  

It can be seen that although the metacosm is still in the early stage of development and the future development road is still very long, the metacosm is not only regarded as the “second growth curve” by relevant enterprises, but also has been supported, encouraged and guided by the government.  

In addition, we can also see that in the metaverse concept stock, game companies are still in the concept stage, and LED screens as the junction of virtual and reality, the future development has a rich imagination space. LeDinside, the Optoelectronic Research Office of TrendForce Jibang Consulting, pointed out that in the next few years, MiniLED will be the application with the most growth momentum in various segments of LED; and Micro LED will take longer to achieve large-scale mass production, but it is still the most important development direction of the LED industry in the future, of which the potential of large-scale displays, wearable devices and head-mounted devices markets is unlimited.