The amalgamation of the real with the virtual world, which should bring benefits for work and leisure, offers huge potential. Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg reckons that a billion people will be operating in the metaverse by the end of the decade, creating online business to the tune of several hundred billion dollars. That's reason enough for hardware and software manufacturers to secure a position for themselves. Leading technology concerns such as Nvidia have been pushing the concept for a long time already and can look back on some considerable successes. The high-performance chip manufacturer, whose graphics cards revolutionised the gaming segment, among others, already has a project on the starting blocks in the form of its "Omniverse", launched last year. This is an open platform on which designers, researchers and engineers collaborate virtually. Companies such as BMW and Siemens are already using Omniverse, such as for the virtual planning and design of highly complex manufacturing systems.
Nvidia is not the only company to have a long history of interest in the metaverse, though: gaming platform Roblox also exhibits such traits. Thus the online game provider has its own economic system in which Robux, the virtual currency, can be used to buy clothing, for instance. While on the subject of currencies, the crypto sector offers huge opportunities here, because Bitcoin and the like can utilise their full potential in a digital environment. The non-fungible token (NFT) in particular is ideally suited for regulating digital identities and digital ownership. The focus could therefore shift towards companies such as Coinbase, the crypto trading platform, or payment specialist Square, which is already posting quarterly sales in excess of USDbn 2 with Bitcoin services of its cash app.
The development is profiting companies in other sectors too, however, such as semiconductor manufacturers Intel, Samsung and TSMC and the Chinese tech giants Alibaba and Tencent. The latter also has shares in Epic Games and Roblox. As well as gaming, Tencent operates social networks, AR and VR. "Anything that makes the virtual world more real and the real world more rich with virtual experiences can become part of the metaverse," said Tencent CEO Pony Ma when presenting the latest quarterly figures. Sony is likewise bustling about in this market and is now working on a second VR headset for the Playstation. Although not much has yet been heard from Apple with regard to the metaverse, the US tech concern is also engaging with the virtual parallel world. Individual services such as virtual meeting rooms can already be attributed to the new trend. In general, a slower gear at the start of any new hype is not necessarily a bad thing. "The benefit of Apple’s more patient approach to entering new markets is that the chances of success increase with a more informed approach to disruption," wrote technology analysts Katy Huberty and Erik Woodring. All the companies mentioned above and more, exactly 28 in total, are included in the Swissquote Metaverse Index, giving investors broadly diversified access to the future trend.
With the tracker on the Swissquote Metaverse Index, Leonteq has just the right financial product to make any portfolio even more forward-looking. The active approach of the index sponsor ensures that the composition is always kept up to date – a huge advantage over static baskets, because there is plenty of movement in the still young market. Who will turn out to be the real winners of the future trend will probably only become evident in the next few years. The fees for management come to an 0.8% p.a. The structured product is denominated in Swiss francs and has an open-ended design, allowing it to reflect the long-term character of the theme.
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