Qualcomm and Meta have signed a multi-year agreement promising to team up on custom versions of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon XR chips for “the future roadmap of Quest products” and “other devices.” Mark Zuckerberg put it,

While, in some ways, the move is business as usual — the Quest 2 is powered by the Snapdragon XR2 chipset — it could provide insight into Meta’s agreements as it faces declining revenue and rising expenses for Mark’s Metaverse project. tries to keep it under control. ,

Qualcomm deal reveals Meta’s upcoming headset, which reportedly includes a high-end headset codename cambria And later, New versions of its cheap Quest headsetWill not run on fully optimized meta-designed silicon.

This is despite competing companies like Apple, heroineAnd Google Making product decisions around custom chip designs like the M2, Graviton3 and Tensor—and the fact that Meta’s There was a team dedicated to doing this Since 2018. This press release states that the chips will be “optimized” for Meta’s needs. Still, we don’t know how much space there might be between its “premium” devices and other manufacturers’ hardware that closely Qualcomm’s Snapdragon XR Reference Design,

in April, ledge informed of That Meta employees were working with Semiconductor Fab — companies that actually produce physical chips — to create custom chips for their as-yet-unannounced AR headset. same month, Information informed of That some of Meta’s efforts to make custom chips were hitting the odds prompted it to use a Qualcomm chip for its second-gen Ray-Bay smart glasses instead of its own silicon.

Qualcomm

Meta spokesman Tyler Yee said the company does not discuss details about how its roadmap has evolved and would not comment on any specific plans for custom chips for Quest products. However, Yi shared a statement on the company’s “general approach to custom silicon,” saying Meta does not believe in a “one-size-fits-all approach” to the technology powering its future devices.

“There may be situations where we use off-the-shelf silicone or work with industry partners on customization, while also exploring our own novel silicon solutions. There may be scenarios where we use the same product. We use both partner and custom solutions.” They said. “It’s about doing everything necessary to create the best Metaverse experience possible.”

Behind all this is a company which is facing a lot of pressure. Meta’s revenue is dipped for the first time (thanks in part Apple’s Changes how apps are allowed to track users), and Zuckerberg clearly laid out plans turn up the heat on employees Acknowledging, “I guess some of you might say that this isn’t the place for you. And that self-selection is fine for me.” At the same time, he’s making a big bet on the metaverse – the company is spending, and losing, billions of dollars per year On the project, which includes AR and VR headsets.

This is a high-stakes game that Meta would like to play as close to the chest as possible. But for now, it looks like hardware customers access Zuckerberg’s metaverse (if they’re going to do thatinstead of just playing hit the saber) will continue to be powered by someone else’s chips.