Facebook's Oculus has already tapped into the metaverse

The company whose chips power Facebook's Oculus virtual reality headset has already tapped into the metaverse opportunity. The CEO of Qualcomm says glasses could eventually be as widespread as smartphones.

Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon knows smartphones well. The company's main business is providing semiconductors for those devices. As Apple begins to make its own chips for its phones, it's been working on diversifying its revenue into products and services for the automotive industry, the Internet of Things and the metaverse. For all devices that are commercially deployed, you have one thing in all of them — Snapdragon XR, said Amon, referring to Qualcomm's extended reality version of its main Snapdragon platform. We're very excited about that opportunity, and it could be as big as phones if you have companion glasses that you carry with your phone. Amon pointed out Facebook's name change as a key to the success of the company's XR device: Even looking at how the company is now called Meta is a reflection of how successful Oculus has been, he said.

During Qualcomm's investor day on Tuesday, Metaverse products were part of the diversification strategy Amon laid out by the company. He stated that Qualcomm is working on reducing its reliance on Apple, and is aiming for $46 billion in revenue by 2024, including $9 billion from the Internet of Things.

The investors seemed convinced, bidding the shares up to a record after the presentation. Amon said the stock's performance this year is an indication of its incredible technology. The market for servicing the metaverse is becoming increasingly crowded, according to Qualcomm. There is room for many participants. Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang recently told Yahoo Finance that the economy of the metaverse could be much larger than that of the physical world.

Julie Hyman is the co-anchor of Yahoo Finance Live, weekdays 9 am -- 11 am ET.