[Asia Economy Reporter Hyungsoo Park] Gaon Media is showing strong performance day after day. Unlike smartphones, whose growth is slowing down, the rapid growth of extended reality (XR) devices is continuing, raising expectations for the XR devices being developed by Gaon Media.
As of 1:44 PM on the 30th, Gaon Media is trading at 15,050 KRW, up 10.26% from the previous day.
NH Investment & Securities forecasts that although Facebook's subsidiary Oculus maintains a dominant position, if Apple launches XR devices next year, the related market will experience high growth exceeding 100% annually, similar to the past smartphone market.
Researcher Lee Gyu-ha of NH Investment & Securities explained, "Global XR device sales in the first quarter of this year reached 3.05 million units, a 149.7% increase compared to the previous year," adding, "by company, Oculus shipped 2.29 million units."
He continued, "Facebook continues to hold an overwhelming market share in the XR market through its subsidiary Oculus Quest 2 series," adding, "Recently, due to the global resurgence of COVID-19, expansion of VR-exclusive content, and the metaverse boom, the XR market's high growth trend is expected to continue."
He emphasized, "In particular, Apple is highly likely to unveil its first XR device in June next year and begin sales in the second half of the year," adding, "The related market is expected to blossom significantly starting in 2022."
The global XR market is expected to expand from 13.7 million units this year to approximately 28 million units next year. According to the UK accounting and consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), the global market size of extended reality (XR) technology is estimated to reach $1.5429 trillion (about 1773.5 trillion KRW) by 2030. Currently, the metaverse-related technology, which is still abstract, is undergoing convergence and advancement, forming an integrated market expected to experience rapid expansion after 2022.
Earlier, AI solution specialist Gaon Media was selected for a national project in the 'XR Convergence Project Support' category under the '2020 Realistic Content New Market Creation Project' promoted by the Ministry of Science and ICT in September last year. XR devices are next-generation devices one step beyond existing virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR) devices. Gaon Media launched the world's first AI set-top box combining AI with IPTV in 2017 and holds the number one market share in domestic AI-related terminals.
Utilizing AI and 5G technologies owned by Gaon Media, ultra-realistic interactive XR devices are being produced, and education and training system content will be delivered through XR devices.
Gaon Media stated, "Through next-generation XR device solutions, we plan to broadly expand business into safety (firefighting, construction), manufacturing (smart factory), security (military, police, security), education, shopping, museums, theme parks, and more."
Gaon Media is newly promoting its XR business division. Last month, it raised 10.5 billion KRW by issuing convertible bonds to promote new business. Gaon Media did not allocate a specific use for the raised funds but classified them primarily as operating funds for the new XR business. The company explained, "Because the scale of government projects related to the Metaverse is large and the market outlook is very bright, we successfully issued perpetual bonds without major difficulties."
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