Qualcomm has scored a major contract, with Meta tapping the firm to create its virtual reality (VR) chips.
Meta is going all-in on the metaverse, running TV ads and working to convince customers and companies that they should buy into its vision of what the metaverse should be. In order to take advantage of the metaverse, however, people still need headsets and equipment — equipment which will be powered by custom chips Qualcomm will be making for the social media giant.
The two companies have “announced a multi-year agreement to collaborate on a new era of spatial computing powered by Snapdragon extended reality (XR) platforms and technologies for the Meta Quest platform.”
The new agreement builds on a seven-year history of collaboration between the two companies.
“By partnering with Meta, we are bringing together two of the world’s metaverse leaders to revolutionize the future of computing for billions of people in the coming years,” said Cristiano Amon, president and chief executive officer, Qualcomm Incorporated. “Building off our joint leadership in XR, this agreement will allow our companies to deliver best-in-class devices and experiences to transform how we work, play, learn, create and connect in a fully realized metaverse.”
“We’re working with Qualcomm Technologies on customized virtual reality chipsets — powered by Snapdragon XR platforms and technology — for our future roadmap of Quest products,” said Mark Zuckerberg, Founder and CEO, Meta. “As we continue to build more advanced capabilities and experiences for virtual and augmented reality, it has become more important to build specialized technologies to power our future VR headsets and other devices. 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.”