According to publicly traded business tracker Tianyancha, the new unit wholly owned by the investment arm of Alibaba grouping, lists its main business as software development and services. The registered capital of Yuanjing Shengsheng is 10 million yuan (about 1.6 million USD).
 |
|
The establishment of the new unit underscores Alibaba’s interest in the metaverse |
According to a report by Chinese media outlet Chinastarmarket.cn, its business is related to the virtual super universe ‘metaverse’. The creation of the new unit underscores Alibaba’s interest in the metaverse, despite Beijing’s close scrutiny of the gaming sector over the past year. It also became “hot” after similar strides by other Chinese tech giants, including Tencent Holdings, NetEase and Baidu.
“This move reflects Alibaba’s strategy towards the metaverse. It’s an attempt to leverage its cloud computing and cutting-edge technology to establish the essential infrastructure for the metaverse,” said Chenyu Cui, senior game research analyst at the consulting firm. Omdia in London (UK), said. According to Mr. Cui, Alibaba is choosing technology to enter the field of games and virtual reality space later, when the concept of metaverse becomes more complete.
n
The race towards the metaverse has accelerated in China in recent months, even amid regulatory concerns. Baidu announced last week that it will launch its first metaverse product Land of Hope this month. Other Big Tech companies including Alibaba, Tencent and NetEase have all registered trademarks related to the metaverse to pave the way for future plans.
According to business research firm Qichacha, Alibaba has filed a trademark application for Chinese terms for “Ali Metaverse”, “Taobao Metaverse” and “DingDing Metaverse”. Meanwhile, Tencent in September 2021 filed applications to register nearly 100 trademarks related to the metaverse, including “QQ Metaverse”, “QQ Music Metaverse” and “Kings Metaverse”. Online video platform Kuaishou and iQiyi, electric car maker Li Auto, are also seeking to trademark their own metaverse.
.
