The analyst firm TrendForce has stated that industrial metaverse revenue will hit $540 billion by 2025 as companies begin to use Industry 4.0 tools. One of the main applications of the metaverse that TrendForce pointed out was digital twins – where real-life objects are replicated in a metaverse. The technology is already used by some companies but its use is expected to grow.
Companies that are already using digital twins include Microsoft, Boeing, Unilever, Siemens Energy, and Ericsson. Microsoft offers digital twins in its multiverse technology stack so users can create digital models that emulate real-life objects. Boeing, for instance, uses digital twins to create engines and Unilever uses the technology to simulate production lines to cut waste.
Siemens Energy and Ericsson, meanwhile, use NVIDIA’s Omniverse platform to operate power plants and perform predictive maintenance. They also use the technology to simulate equipment allocations for 5G networks.
Commenting on the expected growing use of digital twins, TrendForce said:
“Digital twin technologies will progress towards wider deployments and deeper operations in response to the rise of the metaverse and to the growing complexity of digital simulation models used for constructing products. Hence, relevant digital twin technologies will also begin to emerge in the market.”
In the short and medium-term, digital twins will likely be restricted to use in human resource training, remote diagnostics, energy monitoring, and predictive maintenance while over the longer term they will be able to replicate entire factories and it’s envisioned that companies will engage with one another in ‘cross-industrial collaborations’.
TrendForce said some of the companies in the best position to adopt these new technologies are Bosch, Schneider Electric, Haier, and Foxconn.