As demand for VR-related experiences continues to grow and the China government has been aggressively pushing establishment of VR industry alliances, players including High Tech Computer (HTC), Intel, AMD, Nvidia and ARM have all increased their VR investments in China and competition between VR devices is also expected to heat up in October with events including Google's release of Daydream View VR, the Oculus Developer Conference and the release of PlayStation VR.
Sources from the upstream supply chain pointed out that VR applications are currently still at the initial stage due to issues including high costs and unfriendly device sizes, but research firms are optimistic about China's VR development and a report has also shown that China's VR market is expected to reach a scale of CNY5.66 billion (US$846.42 million) in 2016. The strong investments are expected to accelerate VR development in China.
To support the VR industry, several China government-sponsored research institutes and laboratories have cooperated with the VR supply chain to establish the Industry of Virtual Reality Alliance (IVRA), aiming to push China's VR technology development and standards setting.
IT companies, content providers and channel retailers including Alibaba, Huawei, JD.com, NetEase, Sohu, LeEco, Iqiyi, BOE, Changhong Electric, HiSilicon, TCL, Goertek, HTC, Samsung, Nokia, AMD, Intel, Nvidia and ARM have also joined the alliance to participate in VR development. Goertek has also recently entered into the supply chain of the Oculus Rift and the PlayStation VR.
Google recently unveiled its Daydream View VR device, which is expected to become available in the market starting November.
China players in Shenzhen have also been aggressively pushing VR development and have been releasing low-price VR devices that can be used for industries including real estate, car sales, multimedia entertainment, design and medical research.
Taiwan-based HTC has also established several alliances since early 2016 to expand in China. In April, the company hosted a conference in China for its HTC Vive and established the Asia Pacific VR Alliance (APVRA). Members in APVRA include Warner Brothers, Alibaba, Nvidia, AMD and several game designers, multimedia content providers, development teams and startups.
In June, HTC established the Virtual Reality Venture Capital Alliance (VRVCA) and invested US$10 billion to accelerate the creation of a VR ecosystem.
