Qualcomm, Microsoft team up on metaverse chips for augmented reality apps

Qualcomm, Microsoft partner on the metaverse chip for AR glasses A Qualcomm sign is seen at the third China International Import Expo CIIE in Shanghai.

Reuters -- Qualcomm Inc. is working with Microsoft Corp on custom chips that control lightweight augmented reality glasses for use by both consumers and businesses for metaverse apps.

Qualcomm Chief Executive Cristiano Amon said at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas that the two companies will work together to mate the custom chips with the software that developers need to create virtual worlds in which people can work and play.

He said future devices from the collaboration will work with a Microsoft software product called Mesh that allows users to beam a realistic likeness of themselves into the headset of another user so that they feel like they are in the same room.

The future hardware will use Qualcomm's software called Snapdragon Spaces to perform basic augmented reality functions like mapping out physical spaces, so that digital objects can be overlaid on them and hand-tracking so that users can manipulate those digital objects with hand gestures.

Amon, one of the few tech executives not to cancelling his physical presence at the trade show, said from a live-streamed talk on stage in Las Vegas that we've been talking about for years about the possibility of wearable augmented reality devices that will gain scale.

The two companies didn't give any details about when the chips and headsets would be available.

Rub n Caballero, corporate vice president for mixed reality at Microsoft, said in a statement that the goal is to inspire and empower others to work together to build a metaverse future that is grounded in trust and innovation.