[Featured Stock] Giant Step Gains Momentum Leading Metaverse with Virtual Human Technology

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunseok Yoo] Giantstep is showing strong performance. It appears to be influenced by the news that the subscription competition rate for the IPO of Maxst, a metaverse platform company, surpassed 6700 to 1, setting a record high.

As of 9:38 AM on the 20th, Giantstep was trading at 104,000 KRW, up 9.47% (9,000 KRW) compared to the previous trading day.

According to Hana Financial Investment, the lead underwriter for Maxst's listing, the general subscription competition rate for Maxst, which closed at 4 PM the previous day, recorded 6763 to 1. This easily surpassed the previous record high subscription competition rate of 4397.67 to 1 set by mobile platform company NBT in January.

This news is interpreted to have influenced Giantstep as well. Giantstep was established in 2008 as an advertising VFX specialized company and has experience producing about 5,300 works to date. It also established Korea’s first in-house research lab, GX Lab, to develop a 'real-time engine.' Additionally, it carried out the digital human 'Vincent' project. Through an AI-based facial animation automation solution, it realized hyper-realistic 3D characters that closely resemble real people. Vincent can interact with viewers in real time through channels like YouTube and Twitch. An evolved version of the Vincent project is 'aespa,' which was introduced last year in collaboration with SM Entertainment. Aespa is a four-member girl group composed of actual members, but it can also be seen as an eight-member group by adding four virtual avatars corresponding to each member.

Kiwoom Securities expects Giantstep to capture the metaverse market with virtual humans. Researcher Namsu Lee of Kiwoom Securities said, "Giantstep is expected to expand its virtual human business across various industries such as platforms, entertainment, and gaming based on its proprietary virtual human 'Vincent.' Virtual humans, as real-time immersive content, will be utilized as core content in the metaverse, enabling not only the establishment of monetization models through communication with users but also the supply of original content due to the increased recognition of virtual humans themselves."

He explained, "Global virtual influencers, as seen with 'Lil Miquela,' are already actively operating, building monetization models through fandom formation and independent content production for each character. Besides the virtual human projects primarily offered by the metaverse, the additional needs of individuals in the era of secondary characters are expected to be a factor supporting future growth."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.