[Special Stock] Newplex, Next Metaverse Hardware Player... Sharing Growth of Facebook Oculus

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyungsoo Park] Newflex is showing strong performance. It appears that Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg's announcement to transform Facebook from a social networking service (SNS) company into a 'metaverse' company within the next five years is influencing the stock price. According to NH Investment & Securities, Newflex supplies PCBs to Oculus through China's largest smartphone camera module manufacturer.

Facebook is making intensive investments in metaverse-related technologies, including spending $2 billion to acquire Oculus, a company developing virtual reality (VR) products. They are also developing the 'Infinite Office,' an ideal workplace created through VR technology.

As of 1:50 PM on the 26th, Newflex is trading at 3,445 KRW, up 4.08% from the previous trading day.

Researcher Kyunggeun Kang of NH Investment & Securities explained, "Oculus VR devices secured a dominant market position with 2.29 million units sold in the first quarter of this year and a 75% market share. Considering Oculus's explosive sales volume, increased PCB installation per device, and higher profit margins compared to existing products, the VR-related business will drive overall company growth and profitability improvement."

He estimated Oculus-related sales to be 26.4 billion KRW this year and 40.4 billion KRW next year, representing increases of 128.1% and 53.0% year-over-year, respectively. Researcher Kang added, "The proportion of Oculus sales in Newflex's total revenue will rapidly expand to 17.0% and 22.3%. We share the growth potential of Oculus, the leading hardware player in the metaverse."

Researcher Eunsu Jung of Meritz Securities analyzed, "The next player in the metaverse cycle is hardware. Even if platforms, content, and infrastructure are at the highest level, it is difficult to find meaning without a tangible connecting medium to guide us from reality to the virtual world."

He emphasized, "As metaverse content evolves, the medium must also evolve. Although we currently access the virtual world through PCs and smartphones, the popularization of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) devices expected within the next few years will be a critical turning point for our lives and the growth of the metaverse industry." He explained why Facebook, Apple, and Microsoft are attractive in this context.