Meta acquires optics company Luxexcel, another building block for the AR future - MIXED Reality News

Image: Luxexcel

Meta has acquired Luxexcel. The Belgian-Dutch institution provides an important portion of the puzzle for Meta’s archetypal AR headset.

Founded successful 2009 and based successful Turnhout adjacent Antwerp, the institution specializes successful 3D printing analyzable corrective lenses and has developed its ain machines for this purpose. The lenses are utilized to close ocular acuity and encapsulate waveguides. This is an AR show made of solid oregon integrative that directs airy from a projector into the eye.

Luxexcel antecedently worked with a fig of well-known waveguide manufacturers, including Lumus and WaveOptics. Meta is besides rumored to person collaborated with Luxexcel for Project Aria. With the sensor glasses developed arsenic portion of this probe project, Meta wants to find retired what information AR headsets request to cod astir the situation to connection astute functions specified arsenic AR navigation.

Meta reportedly paid a lot

Belgian concern paper De Tijd was the archetypal to study connected the Luxexcel acquisition, which was said to person been completed successful concealed weeks ago. On Wednesday, Meta confirmed the acquisition.

“We are delighted that the Luxexcel squad has joined Meta. This extends the concern betwixt the 2 companies,” Meta stated.

According to the newspaper, Meta is said to person paid a “very spicy” terms for the company. Luxexcel itself is not the lone 1 to payment from the takeover: The Flemish authorities has invested aggressively successful the institution and is 1 of its largest shareholders.

Luxexcel specialized successful 3D printing of corrective lenses since 2015. In 2018, erstwhile Solidscape CEO Fabio Esposito took the helm and continued that focus. A 2019 article highlights the exertion and Esposito’s goals successful detail.

Meta hunts down AR technology

According to rumors, Meta wants to motorboat the archetypal AR headset intended for the wide marketplace successful 2026. Luxexcel could proviso the correction lenses needed for this, which are apt to beryllium much cost-effective than different solutions if produced successful ample quantities.

The acquisition follows galore others by Metas and different ample companies looking to secure cardinal AR enabling technologies aboriginal on.

Display adept and manufacture perceiver Karl Guttag, who besides discusses Luxexcel’s exertion connected his blog, is captious of the acquisition.

“This continues a inclination of companies giants similar Meta, Apple, Google, and others, including Snap and Vuzix, buying up the proviso concatenation for AR components. This buying up of fledgling technologies is apt to hinder the semipermanent improvement of the AR market.”

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