What Is the Metaverse? A Technical Overview of Its Layers and Industry Landscape

The current mainstream definition of the metaverse is a networked virtual reality where users appear as self‑designed avatars, engage in both ordinary and extraordinary activities—much like a game—and can live, move, and control characters within a persistent digital space.

In a fully developed virtual world, individuals can achieve identity recognition, conduct monetary transactions, feel community belonging, and pursue career development, mirroring the capabilities of the physical world.

The metaverse runs parallel to reality, remains continuously online, and influences real‑world needs, offering new resource‑allocation methods, spawning novel business models, and fostering emerging lifestyles.

Leading companies such as Meta (Facebook), Roblox, Apple, Microsoft, Google, Nvidia, Tencent, and ByteDance are expanding their metaverse initiatives, focusing on hardware (e.g., GPUs), underlying platform systems, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, gaming content, and VR/AR devices and software.

Metaverse Industry Chain – Two Perspectives

Seven‑layer model: infrastructure layer, human‑computer interaction layer, decentralization layer, spatial computing layer, creator‑economy layer, discovery layer, experience layer.

Four‑block model: hardware, software, services, applications & content.

Eight Key Categories Tracking Metaverse Development

Hardware: Physical technologies and devices that provide access, interaction, and development capabilities for the metaverse.

Computing Power: Massive processing required for physics simulation, rendering, AI, motion capture, haptic feedback, and data transmission within complex metaverse systems.

Network: Persistent, stable, low‑latency network environments capable of handling large‑scale distributed data transmission.

Virtual Platform: Immersive digital platforms with complete economic and creative ecosystems that serve as the metaverse’s carrier.

Interaction Protocols & Standards: Tools, protocols, services, and engines that support creation, operation, and evolution of the metaverse.

Payment Methods: Economic infrastructure including digital currencies, cryptocurrencies, and decentralized blockchain technologies.

Metaverse Content, Services & Assets: Creation, sale, storage, full management, and financial handling of digital assets, as well as the digital content linked to them.

User Behavior: Insights from changes in consumer and commercial behavior that reveal future trends; the metaverse’s realization depends on global commercial activities.

The above framework provides a comprehensive technical and business perspective on the metaverse, helping stakeholders understand its architecture, ecosystem components, and the strategic directions shaping its evolution.