The Metaverse Will Turn Into A Nearly $1 Trillion Industry By 2030: Report

Big deals by Microsoft and other tech players are proof that the metaverse is gearing up for a massive expansion in the coming years, according to GlobalData. ‘Our partners recognize the growth opportunity in vertical specialization and offering their customers tailored industry solutions,’ says Lenovo’s North America channel chief.

The global metaverse space will grow to a $996.42 billion industry by 2030 surging ahead at a compound annual growth rate of 39.8 percent over the next eight years, according to a recent report by analytics and consulting firm GlobalData.

The industry stood at $22.79 billion in 2021, the report said. GlobalData said the major shift to remote and hybrid work during and after the pandemic has shifted momentum in favor of the metaverse industry.

“There is a land grab going on for strong metaverse ecosystem partners and learnings,” said Deepal Agarwal, project manager at GlobalData, said in a statement. “Telcos are, by and large, keen to understand the lay of the land and invest in exploration with startups as potential partners. M&A activity is picking up, with access to technology being the key rationale for most of the deals. Providers of AR, VR, AI and blockchain solutions are becoming prime targets as acquirers aim to develop novel experiences.”

GlobalData points to moves like Microsoft’s planned acquisition of game company Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion. In April, Arogo Capital acquired EON Reality, a VR-based 3D meeting software provider in a deal worth $655 million.

And vendors are bolstering their VR, VR, and AI offerings. Hong Kong-based Lenovo recently launched its new ThinkReality VRX headset aimed at business users and Meta released its latest VR headset, the Quest 2 Pro – a higher end unit targeting more compute heavy VR tasks.

Rob Cato, Lenovo’s vice president of North America channels, told CRN in an email that channel partners should pay close attention to emerging tech around the metaverse.

“Within the channel, the largest growth is coming from vertical markets,” he said. “Our partners recognize the growth opportunity in vertical specialization and offering their customers tailored industry solutions. This specialization allows Lenovo partners to provide customers with greater level of expertise and an advantage of being on the forefront of emerging technologies.”

Cato also pointed to increased spending in the healthcare space, where Lenovo is “seeing a rise in AI adoption and IoT. It is predicted that healthcare spending on AI will be over $30 billion by 2025… Virtual reality and augmented reality continue to grow with use cases in non-traditional, new markets… Ultimately, it’s how partners are able to look holistically at customer needs to recommend emerging technologies such as IoT, AI and VR/AR in conjunction with partner services to provide a full solution.”

GlobalData says North America will dominate the metaverse market for the foreseeable future because of the adoption of new technology and presence of major technology giants like Nvidia, Meta, and Microsoft pushing growth in emerging technologies.

“The metaverse market is expected to flourish at a rapid rate with more and more industry verticals focusing on launching innovative solutions and leveraging modern technologies,” GlobalData’s Agarwal said in the statement. “Industry verticals such as BFSI, retail, education, media and entertainment, aerospace and defense, manufacturing, and others are expected to create sizable shares in creating revenue opportunities throughout the decade.”

He added, “Furthermore, strategic partnerships in each of the industry verticals are likely to propel the adoption of metaverse further in the long run.”