Visitors experience VR gaming capsules at the Intelligent Industry & Information Technology exhibition area of the fifth China International Import Expo (CIIE) in east China's Shanghai, Nov. 5, 2022. (Photo: Xinhua)

An official from China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said that financing for virtual reality (VR) industry across the nation saw 100 percent year-on-year increase in 2021, and the ministry plans to set up a national-level manufacturing center to boost the sector, CCTV reported on Sunday.

During the 2022 World Conference on VR Industry held in Nanchang, East China's Jiangxi Province, the MIIT official said the market of VR and augmented reality (AR) saw fast expansion in recent years. 

The 2021 global output of VR-related equipment surpassed the milestone of 10 million units with domestic financing for the VR sector doubling in the year, said the MIIT, noting that the number of registered VR enterprises has surpassed 10,000 in China. 

According to the official, the MIIT has approved the establishment of a national-level VR manufacturing and innovation center in Nanchang city, in a bid to accelerate the development of VR applications. 

In early November, the MIIT along with other four top central government departments jointly issued a development outline for applying VR technology from 2022 to 2026 which plans to bring the country's VR industry production to reach 350 billion yuan of market scale by 2026, while develop 100 leading VR enterprises by that year.

VR and AR are two of pillar technologies for the growth of the metaverse industry. The market scale of VR and AR-related hardware in China is estimated to reach 187.77 billion yuan by 2025, Chinese iiMedia Research Institute said.

And, a metaverse research center will be established in Shenzhen in South China's Guangdong Province to boost the development of metaverse-related industries including VR and AR. Governments in Beijing and Shanghai also issued documents to support the development of local metaverse enterprises. 

Global Times