Meta was once committed to independently developing customized XR chips. However, recently, according to a report by Fortune, due to the influence of the "Year of Efficiency" policy promoted by Zuckerberg, this ambitious plan, unfortunately, became a victim of cost-cutting.
According to the latest report, with the in-depth implementation of the "Year of Efficiency" measures in 2023, Meta's years of efforts in self-developing chips have quietly come to an end. The social media company Meta announced the adjustment of its development strategy for augmented reality (AR) glasses. After giving up self-developing chips, Meta will use Qualcomm's chips in the upcoming prototypes and future versions of AR glasses.
The report said that Meta launched a customized chip plan in 2019 and had planned to launch the first AR glasses "Orion" at the Connect 2024 conference. The aim was to develop customized chips for its internally codenamed "Orion" AR glasses to improve product performance and efficiency. Meta also regarded this customized chip as a key link in realizing Zuckerberg's performance vision.
In this project, Meta's chip team in the hardware department is responsible for developing three specific chips named Armstrong, Avogadro, and Acropolis respectively. These chips are mainly used in Orion AR glasses to enhance key functions such as image recognition and improve the overall experience of AR glasses. However, in the original plan, these customized chips were not only applied to Orion AR glasses but also included other models of the Apollo project.
The Reality Labs department behind Meta's consumer hardware has been dealing with significant financial problems. The latest quarterly report of this department shows that its revenue is 353 million US dollars, while the operating loss is 4.5 billion US dollars. With the strict control of costs by the management, Meta has decided to abandon the self-developing chip plan. Financial pressure and strategic adjustments may be an important factor for Meta to adjust its chip development strategy.
It is worth noting that with the advancement of the "Year of Efficiency" policy, since October 2023, many employees of Meta's chip team have been laid off. According to insiders, when the layoffs are settled this year, only a few employees responsible for docking with suppliers will remain in the team, marking the official end of Meta's self-research path in the field of XR customized chips.
Although Meta still maintains research and development vitality in other chip fields such as data center AI processors, its retreat from the wearable device customized chip project is a foregone conclusion.
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