(Yicai Global) Dec. 9 -- Chinese internet giant Alibaba Group Holding has formed a subsidiary dedicated to the so-called metaverse, or the next generation of the internet.

Hangzhou Ali Venture Capital, Alibaba’s investment arm, set up Yuanjing Shengsheng Beijing Technology on Dec. 6 with a registered capital of CNY10 million (USD1.6 million), according to details on business information platform Tianyancha. Alibaba’s cloud gaming division launched the Yuanjing brand in September, according to earlier media reports.

Leading technology companies, including China’s Alibaba, Tencent Holdings and Baidu, are pivoting toward the metaverse, an alternative virtual world that has come very much to the fore this year. Facebook even renamed itself Meta in October, vowing to invest at least USD10 billion in the new digital space this year alone.

The metaverse is still in an early exploration stage as its application from games to other scenarios is gradually expanding, an analyst at GuoYuan Securities said, adding that its technologies and content are immature. But the accelerated layouts of both software and hardware giants will promote rapid development of the industry, he noted.

Yuanjing mainly provides platform-as-a-service capabilities, but also plays the role of builder and technology promoter of the ‘new infrastructure’ needed for the metaverse, according to Alibaba’s introduction. Through improving cloud gaming technology and experience, it has become the underlying technical support of the metaverse.

Hangzhou-based Alibaba has also applied to register the trademarks Ali Metaverse and Taobao Metaverse.

Editor: Futura Costaglione