Meta Platforms have inked a deal with Qualcomm Inc. which will be producing custom chipsets for Meta’s Quest virtual reality devices (VR). The announcement was made on September 2, 2022, at an electronic conference in Berlin.
In the announcement, it said that both companies will have their engineering and product teams working on producing the chips which will be powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon platforms. This agreement shows the dependency Meta has on Qualcomm’s technology when it comes to its virtual and mixed reality devices. However, it is important to note that the chip made in this collaboration will not be exclusive to Meta but optimized specifically for Quest’s system specification according to Meta spokesperson Tyler Yee
Mark Zuckerberg, Meta Chief Executive, in a video message said, “Unlike mobile phones, building VR brings novel multidimensional challenges in spatial computing, cost and form factor”. He added, “We are still in the early stages of the metaverse and this sort of deep technical integration will help VR move towards being a multifunctional computing platform,”
When it comes to VR devices, the company has relied on Qualcomm chips for many years including the Quest2 headset.
Trying to bring in Zuckerberg’s vision of the metaverse to life, Meta has invested heavily in technologies like pass-through Google and augmented reality glasses.
Tyler Yee added that the agreement covers only VR devices and Meta will continue to pursue and develop its own silicon solutions. He said “There could be situations where we use off-the-shelf silicon or work with industry partners on customizations, while also exploring our own novel silicon solutions. There could also be scenarios where we use both partner and custom solutions in the same product,”
Any financial term or information regarding the deal was not disclosed in the conference and the announcement.
