Meta sign an agreement with Qualcomm to produce dedicated virtual reality chips

Meta Corporation has signed an agreement with chip maker Qualcomm to produce chips for Quest virtual reality (VR) devices.

The two companies announced at a consumer electronics conference in Berlin on Friday, according to a Reuters report. The two companies said – in a statement – that the engineering and product teams in the two companies will work together to produce chips powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon platforms.

The agreement shows Facebook owner Meta reliance on Qualcomm technology even as it tries to develop its own chipsets for virtual, augmented and mixed reality devices. “Unlike mobile phones, building virtual reality brings new multidimensional challenges in spatial computing, cost and form factor,” Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, said in a video message.

Meta is investing heavily in technologies such as traffic glasses and augmented reality, as it attempts to revive Zuckerberg’s vision of metaverse, a concept that includes an array of digital worlds.

Meta spokesman Tyler Yee told Reuters that the chipsets produced through the cooperation will not be exclusive to Meta, but will be improved specifically for Quest specifications. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Yi said that the agreement covers virtual reality devices only, and Meta will continue to work on developing some of its chip solutions. Our own, and there could also be scenarios where we use our own chips in collaboration with partners in the same product.”