In October 2023, almost a year ago, Facebook’s parent company Meta Platforms Inc. (Nasdaq: META) has decided to stop developing chips for CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s vision of virtual reality, the “metaverse.” prioritization in favor of artificial intelligence. According to Reuters, the internal chip development division has been closed and contracts signed with Qualcomm (Nasdaq: QCOM ) to make the chips.
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However, while this process was taking place at Meta, it was decided to postpone the action in Israel due to the October 7 massacre, which resulted in the dismissal of 90 development engineers in January. He was later recruited by US semiconductor giants operating in Israel. This was a team that came to Meta as a result of Inomize’s acquisition in 2021, an acquisition described as a “collaboration”. Later, Inomize’s Netanya offices were closed and employees were transferred to Meta’s offices in Azrieli Sarona Tower, where they remained until last January.
According to the program Zuckerberg launched in 2019, when his company was still called Facebook, the Chip Development for Wearables (FAST) department, which at its peak employed about 600 people, intended to produce the Orion chip as the core. all of the company’s wearables, from bracelets to augmented reality glasses. The company’s investors signaled to Zuckerberg that the vision for the metaverse and the huge investment it attracted could come at the expense of investment in artificial intelligence, and Zuckerberg apparently decided to reduce internal investment and outsource development.
As is known, Meta’s development activities for servers and chips for artificial intelligence have no presence in Israel. In response, Meta said: “This is part of streamlining processes announced by Meta in the past. Meta continues to invest in Israel and hire hundreds of people in the country.”
Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – published on September 4, 2024.
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