Meta might flip to Magic Leap for assist to remain forward of Apple and different new entrants within the soon-to-be crowded AR house. According to the , the 2 corporations are in talks to signal a multi-year IP licensing and manufacturing pact. Details on the negotiations are few, however based on the outlet’s sources, a possible partnership shouldn’t be anticipated to supply a collectively developed headset. Instead, a deal might see Magic Leap present Meta with entry to a few of its optical tech. The partnership might additionally see the startup help with manufacturing Meta gadgets, thereby permitting the tech large to supply extra of its VR headsets domestically at a time when there’s extra stress for US corporations to reduce their dependence on China.

Meta didn’t instantly reply to Engadget’s remark request. Magic Leap instructed the Financial Times partnerships had been changing into a “significant line of business and growing opportunity for Magic Leap.” Additionally, in a weblog publish titled “,” CEO Peggy Johnson stated late final yr the corporate had “received an incredible amount of interest from across the industry to license our IP and utilize our patented manufacturing process to produce optics for others seeking to launch their own mixed-reality technology.”

The timing of the report is notable for a few causes. Meta is below stress from buyers to point out one thing for all the cash it has spent pursuing CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s imaginative and prescient for the way forward for computing. The firm doesn’t count on to make a revenue from all of its metaverse initiatives for an additional few years. At the identical time, it’s on its Reality Labs division. Separately, Apple is broadly anticipated to enter the AR headset market subsequent month when the corporate holds its WWDC developer convention.