The “meta universe” needs the support of the “physical universe”. According to the data of Bloomberg research and newzoo, IDC, PwC, statista and twocircles, the global metaverse market space in 2020 is about $478.7 billion, and it is expected to be about $783.3 billion by 2024, with a compound annual growth rate of 13.1%. Digital reality needs the support of physical reality, that is, it needs the computing power, storage and bandwidth to build a new generation of Internet. According to the latest survey of trendforce, building a more complex meta universe than the existing Internet world requires a more powerful data processing core, a network environment capable of transmitting a large amount of data, and a user-side AR / VR device with improved display performance. These requirements will further promote the development of memory products, advanced process technology, 5g communication and display technology. Among them, the conceptual framework of metauniverse largely depends on the support provided by computing nodes. Therefore, the data center industry will experience more demands brought by the meta universe, and the micro server and edge processing applications will grow accordingly.
The capital expenditure of cloud manufacturer giant data center is rising. According to the prediction of dell’orogroup, the global data center capital expenditure will increase by 17% year-on-year in 2022, including the data center expenditure of large-scale cloud service providers will increase by 30% year-on-year. The world’s top ten cloud service providers plan to build new data centers in more than 30 regions next year, and will increase investment in new server architecture and network upgrading. According to the official website of meta, the company currently owns and operates 18 data center parks around the world, with a total area of 40 million square feet and an investment of more than 20 billion US dollars. According to Microsoft officials, the company plans to spend billions each year to build 50 to 100 new data centers. By June 2021, Microsoft had six data centers in China and accelerated the construction during the epidemic.
Chinese cloud manufacturers have laid out meta universe to boost the demand for data centers. According to Gartner, Alibaba cloud serves 25 regions and 80 availability zones around the world. It is a leading public cloud service provider in the Asia Pacific region and ranks third in the world. According to Alibaba cloud’s official website, new data centers will be launched in South Korea and Thailand in 2022. In July 2020, baidu revealed that it would invest in cloud computing, artificial intelligence education, artificial intelligence platforms, chipsets and data centers in the next decade. The plan requires Baidu to have 5 million Intelligent Cloud servers by 2030. In June 2021, Tencent cloud announced the simultaneous opening of services in four new international data centers in Bangkok, Thailand, Frankfurt, Germany, Tokyo, Japan and Hong Kong, China, officially providing cloud computing technology and industrial digital solutions. At that time, with the newly opened four data centers, Tencent cloud will have 66 available areas for global operation, covering 27 geographical regions. Chinese cloud manufacturers continue to match the content side layout on the basis of strong computing power and bandwidth. In recent years, Tencent has continued to invest in companies and products related to the concept of metauniverse and has established strategic partnerships with game platforms such as epicgames and roblox. Tencent has reached a strategic cooperation with wave, a VR performance service provider, to jointly explore the blue ocean market of VR concerts. In terms of Chinese game ecology, Tencent took a stake in Weimo era, a Chinese VR game developer, in September 2021. In October 2021, Tencent Tianmei announced the establishment of “F1 studio” to focus on the research and development of original AAA open world. In August 2021, baidu applied for the registration of “metaapp” trademark. The international classification involves website services and scientific instruments. In November 2021, baidu launched a social app called “xirang” in Apple App store and Android App store, poweryuan universe. “Xirang” allows users to create avatars and chat with other participants, and will add additional functions such as online education and digital marketing elements in the future. Based on 5g, baidu cloud mobile phone technology and the newly upgraded “xirang” virtual space multiplayer interactive platform, the VR venue of 2021 Baidu World Conference created a virtual world participation experience, allowing participants to have a fully immersive visual experience and interactive feedback from the first person perspective.
The third-party IDC service provider bound with the head Internet manufacturer is expected to take the lead in benefiting: XR (VR / Ar / MR), 5g / 6G, 3D engine, physics engine, general computing power, artificial intelligence and other meta universe related applications rely on the data center as the base. Guangdong Aofei Data Technology Co.Ltd(300738) as a leading third-party IDC operator in China, it is expected to fully benefit from the data traffic growth and computing power demand brought by metauniverse. According to the company announcement, Guangdong Aofei Data Technology Co.Ltd(300738) signed a contract with Beijing express company, Kwai Tai, in July 2019 to provide IDC services. In January 2020, the company signed a memorandum of cooperation with Alibaba on the locking of data center resources in South China. The contract term is 5 years and will be automatically renewed to 8 years after expiration; In September 2021, the company and Baidu reached a cooperation intention on Guangdong Aofei Data Technology Co.Ltd(300738) Nansha data center resource locking. According to the letter of intent Guangdong Aofei Data Technology Co.Ltd(300738) , the company will provide Baidu with the service capacity of 2000 customized high-power data center cabinets and related value-added services, and deliver 500 cabinets to Baidu before February 28, 2022. According to the company’s announcement, by the end of June 2021, the company has nine self built data centers in Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Haikou, Nanning and Langfang, with about 16000 available cabinets. At the same time, several data center projects are under expansion and construction, and have certain scale advantages in the core area; At the same time, the company’s data center layout is mainly in the first tier cities and surrounding cities, as well as some strategic node cities, which has a strong attraction for high-quality customers. At the same time, by using the company’s original network resources and networking capabilities, it can better meet the customers\’ National distribution needs. In addition, Guangdong Aofei Data Technology Co.Ltd(300738) itself has a layout in the meta universe. On December 29, Guangdong Aofei Data Technology Co.Ltd(300738) had in-depth exchanges with the large space mobile VR platform on VR project cooperation, VR technology trend, metauniverse industry development and other contents, and signed a strategic cooperation agreement. The company is listed in the 36 krypton “wise 2021 king of new economy – annual hard core enterprise list”, and is the only enterprise selected by Ar / VR enterprises. Guangdong Aofei Data Technology Co.Ltd(300738) will fully support the Internet strategy of “immersing the world”, and provide intelligent special line networking services for the high-speed interconnection of offline stores in the immersive world through the sd-wan technology developed by the company; Make use of the company’s Internet data center services and value-added services such as national distribution, security protection and remote double live disaster recovery to provide all-round services for the Internet application and expansion strategy of “immerse the world” products. At the same time, give play to Guangdong Aofei Data Technology Co.Ltd(300738) International’s rich overseas operation experience, data center and submarine optical cable transmission network resources, as well as the business resources of overseas operators and partners to help “immerse in the world” gradually realize the expansion of overseas business and resource deployment. Shanghai Athub Co.Ltd(603881) is a leading wholesale IDC service provider controlled by Shanghai SASAC. Since 2018, it has successively undertaken a large number of customized data center project construction and operation demand orders. Shanghai Athub Co.Ltd(603881) deeply bind the key customer Alibaba. According to the company’s announcement, the company is the first customized data center 536@HZ The end user is Alibaba. In 2017, it signed a RMB 1.275 billion Zhangbei IDC project with Alibaba and won the “best supplier” award of Alibaba in 2017. According to the announcement, as of August 2021, Shanghai Athub Co.Ltd(603881) 32 data centers have been built and operated, and the total it load is about 338.02 MW, which is converted into about 67604 5 kW standard cabinets. According to the company’s announcement, the company currently holds Minhang hybrid cloud Park, Hebei Huailai, Hebei Langfang and other projects with rich reserves and is expected to generate sustainable income.
Investment suggestions: it is recommended to pay attention to the third-party IDC service providers Guangdong Aofei Data Technology Co.Ltd(300738) (300738. SZ) and Shanghai Athub Co.Ltd(603881) (603881. SH) bound with the head Internet manufacturers
Risk tips: the development of metauniverse is less than expected, the capital expenditure of cloud manufacturers is less than expected, the risk of cloud manufacturers building their own data centers, and the risk of policy changes
