Home » US business news » Meta and Qualcomm strike deal to make custom virtual reality chips for metaverse applications

Meta and Qualcomm strike deal to make custom virtual reality chips for metaverse applications

By Nagasunder in US business news, posted September 7, 2022

Meta and Qualcomm have announced a collaboration to create custom chipsets for virtual reality products.

The two U.S. technology giants have signed a multi-year agreement to "collaborate on a new era of spatial computing," which will make use of Qualcomm's "extended reality" (XR) Snapdragon technology.

Extended reality refers to technologies that combine the physical and digital worlds, such as virtual and augmented reality.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said: "We're collaborating with Qualcomm Technologies on customized virtual reality chipsets — powered by Snapdragon XR platforms and technology — for our future Quest product roadmap."

Meta's line of virtual reality headsets is known as the Quest products.

The Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 chipset is currently used in the Meta Quest 2 headset.

Since its rebranding in 2021, Facebook-parent Meta has bet on the metaverse — a term that encompasses virtual and augmented reality technology — with the goal of having people working and playing in digital worlds in the near future.

Companies ranging from Apple to Samsung have designed their own custom processors to differentiate themselves from competitors and create better products than they could have with off-the-shelf chips.

Meta's emphasis on custom chips makes sense as it seeks to differentiate its headsets and possibly create unique user experiences.

Zuckerberg said: “Unlike mobile phones, building virtual reality brings novel, multi-dimensional challenges in spatial computing, cost, and form factor.

“These chipsets will help us keep pushing virtual reality to its limits and deliver awesome experiences.”

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The length of the deal and the financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

It comes as Meta prepares to launch a new virtual reality headset in October, despite losses in its Reality Labs division, which includes its VR business, widening in the second quarter.

Source: CNBC

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