Tencent Holdings Ltd (騰訊) and Lenovo Group Ltd (聯想) have joined a US$50 million round of funding for Silicon Valley augmented-reality startup Meta, as China’s largest technology corporations expand their investments into the burgeoning field.
The money will bankroll a more advanced version of Meta’s AR headset that will not require a PC for use, chief executive officer Meron Gribetz said.
Other investors in the Series B round include Horizons Ventures Ltd, Banyan Capital and Comcast Ventures, the venture arm of Comcast Corp Backed by Hong Kong’s richest person, Horizons Ventures led the company’s US$23 million Series A funding last year.
Founded in 2012, the startup is a bit player relative to the likes of Microsoft Corp in the growing field of augmented reality, which superimposes digital images atop the physical world. Its device allows users to control 3D content with their hands. Its latest headset, the Meta 2, requires a PC for power so users are tethered to a computer.
“China’s going to be a very fast-growing market for augmented reality,” Gribetz said. “There’s a huge aptitude and appetite for our technologies in Asia, and we’re playing ahead, trying to make it a more central part of our strategy.”
As sales of desktops and smartphones slow, many of the tech industry’s biggest names are pouring resources into virtual reality, a market that’s projected to reach US$80 billion within the next decade.
Gribetz said he expects augmented reality headsets to begin replacing PCs and smartphones within the next five years.
China’s largest Internet companies are similarly jockeying for position. Baidu Inc (百度), Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (阿里巴巴) and Tencent are seeding dozens of startups and opening their platforms to developers, hoping to become hubs for future virtual and augmented reality software and content.
And Lenovo, the world’s biggest personal computer maker, is turning toward new technologies to try and offset a struggling PC market. Last week, it unveiled a phone that uses Google Inc’s Tango technology to host augmented reality applications.
After several years flying high as Asia’s best Nvidia Corp proxy, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is increasingly vying with other artificial intelligence (AI) stocks for investor attention. Stock traders are chasing a wider array of beneficiaries as mainstream usage of AI creates demand for hardware beyond the most-advanced chips TSMC makes for Nvidia. Subthemes from the deepening memory crunch to advances in robotics are also luring bids. At the same time, investment caps on single stocks are pushing funds to diversify, while retail investors long familiar with TSMC through its US depositary receipts are being offered a broader set of
UNDER MICROSCOPE: Taiwan detained three people who allegedly conspired to buy servers in Taiwan and export them using fraudulent documentation, prosecutors said Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Saturday urged Super Micro Computer Inc to tighten up on compliance after Taiwan detained three people this week for allegedly making fraudulent declarations about artificial intelligence (AI) servers made by its US partner. The development marked the nation’s first crackdown on semiconductor smuggling, which grew after the US slapped restrictions on exports of high-end chips such as Nvidia AI accelerators to China. Nvidia is “rigorous” in explaining regulations to all of its partners, Huang told reporters after arriving in Taipei. “Ultimately Super Micro has to run their own company,” he said in response to
TECH RELIANCE: Growth is increasingly reflecting an unequal K-shaped distribution, where technology sectors outperform and other industries struggle, an expert said Standard Chartered Bank has significantly raised its forecast for Taiwan’s economic growth to 9.5 percent this year, up from 7.6 percent previously, citing surging artificial intelligence (AI) demand driving exports, semiconductor production and investment. The upgrade reflects a sustained AI supercycle that continues to fuel demand for advanced chips and technology infrastructure, which form the backbone of Taiwan’s exports, the bank said in a report this week. “We raise our 2026 growth forecast to reflect a much stronger-than-expected first-quarter GDP figure,” Standard Chartered senior economist for greater China and Asia Tommy Wu (胡東安) said in the report. Driven largely by a 35.3 percent
Two of Taiwan’s international carriers, Starlux Airlines Co (星宇航空) and EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空), have retained the five-star airline rating awarded by international airline review organization Skytrax. Starlux was awarded the distinction for a second consecutive year, while EVA Air received it for the 11th straight year, Skytrax said in statements released yesterday and on Thursday last week, respectively. The five-star rating is considered one of the airline industry's highest honors and is awarded following professional audits of airline product and frontline service standards, Skytrax said. The ratings are based on in-depth assessments using unified global quality standards rather than customer review scores
RSS