Metaverse for PCB
Business hype or beautiful Future?
The metaverse (1) has been the hottest topic across the globe over the past few months. According to the popular meaning, the metaverse is a hypothesized iteration of the internet, supporting persistent and decentralized online 3-D virtual environments. The novel Snow Crash (1992) by Neal Town Stephenson and movies including Avatar, The Matrix, and Ready Player One provide a good reference for the scenario. Although the details of the metaverse have not been defined, business giants have already made their claims, with Mark Elliot Zuckerberg having the highest volume occupying various business and technology media for days. Anyway, the metaverse is a virtual world for people in the physical world to enjoy and immerse themselves with the help of some devices.These beautiful imaginations originally existed only in settings of science fiction and movies. Yet, the significant progress in wearables and the miniaturization of electronic products in recent years have accelerated the realization of these settings. “Currency” is the most important part for interaction in the virtual world. The boom of cryptocurrencies and decentralization have led to a rivalry of various suppliers, and the technological singularity (2) for the convergence of the physical and virtual words is not far from us.
The metaverse heat has brought new ideas and applications to related hardware and software devices, such as low-latency 5G networks, various blockchain applications (DeFi, GameFi, NFT), hologram concerts, digital tourism, exhibition/VR/AR/MR, and so on. Some Taiwanese enterprises have pioneered the hologram concert, and VR/AR wearables represent the integrated design and manufacturing that Taiwan’s OEM/ODM ecosystem excels in. However, this is just the beginning of the metaverse, as found in events like virtual meetings or concerts that last for a few hours. Limited by the weight/power durability and the discomfort of long-term wearing of VR devices and the inability of including touch and hearing in the virtual world, total immersion with the virtual world is still unachieved.
Gamefi and NFTs in the blockchain that create cashflow and economic value have attracted the flow of tens of billions of US dollar across the globe in 2021. Based on the actual shipping volume, among the billion+ mobile phones sold across the globe, there were only tens of millions of VR devices. The diversification of metaverse-related applications will trigger a beautiful picture for VR- and wearable-related devices—100 times the production and market value. Although we are technically unable to perfectly enter the metaverse for the moment, neither enterprises nor countries can change this irresistible trend of the metaverse. If nothing can be changed, let’s join it.
(1) Metaverse:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaverse
(2) Technological Singularity:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_singularity