Qualcomm and Meta have signed a multi-year settlement promising to group up on customized variations of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon XR chips for the “future roadmap of Quest merchandise” and “different gadgets,” as Mark Zuckerberg put it.
Whereas, in some methods, the transfer is enterprise as traditional — the Quest 2 is powered by the Snapdragon XR2 chipset — it may present perception into Meta’s compromises because it faces declines in income and tries to maintain the spiraling bills of Mark’s metaverse venture in verify.
What the Qualcomm deal exhibits is that Meta’s upcoming headsets, which reportedly embrace a high-end headset codenamed Cambria and, later, new variations of its cheaper Quest headset, will not run on fully custom-made Meta-designed silicon.
That is regardless of competing corporations like Apple, Amazon, and Google making product selections round customized chip designs like M2, Graviton3, and Tensor — and the truth that Meta’s had a group devoted to doing the identical since 2018. This press launch says the chips might be “custom-made” for Meta’s wants. Nonetheless, we do not understand how a lot area that may put between its “premium” gadgets and different producers’ {hardware} that hews carefully to Qualcomm’s Snapdragon XR reference designs.
In April, The Verge reported that Meta staff have been working with semiconductor fabs — the businesses that really produce the bodily chips — to make customized chips for its as-of-yet unannounced AR headset. That very same month, The Data reported that a few of Meta’s efforts to create customized chips have been hitting roadblocks, pushing it to make use of a Qualcomm chip for its second-gen Ray-Bay good glasses as an alternative of its personal silicon.
Tyler Yee, a Meta spokesperson, stated that the corporate would not talk about particulars about how its roadmap has advanced and would not touch upon any particular plans it might have had for customized chips for Quest merchandise. Nonetheless, Yee did share an announcement on the corporate’s “normal strategy to customized silicon,” saying that Meta would not imagine in a “one-size-fits-all strategy” for the tech powering its future gadgets.
“There could possibly be conditions the place we use off-the-shelf silicon or work with business companions on customizations, whereas additionally exploring our personal novel silicon options. There is also situations the place we use each accomplice and customized options in the identical product,” he stated. “It’s all about doing what is required to create the perfect metaverse experiences potential.”
The backdrop to all this can be a firm dealing with a number of stress. Meta’s income has dipped for the primary time (thanks partly to Apple’s modifications to how apps are allowed to trace customers), and Zuckerberg explicitly acknowledged plans to show up the warmth on staff whereas admitting, “I feel a few of you may simply say that this place is not for you. And that self-selection is okay with me.” On the identical time, he is making an enormous guess on the metaverse — the corporate is spending, and shedding, billions of {dollars} per yr on the venture, which incorporates AR and VR headsets.
It is a high-stakes sport that Meta would presumably wish to play as near the chest as potential. However for now, it appears the {hardware} prospects entry Zuckerberg’s Metaverse with (if they are going to try this in any respect, as an alternative of simply enjoying Beat Saber) will stay powered by someone else’s chips.