Latest news with #IVAS
CNBC
2 days ago
- Business
- CNBC
Meta makes a big move into defense. Here's how it could start to matter for investors
Meta's expensive bet on virtual and augmented reality technology is making its way to the Pentagon. Investors who have been worried about when all that spending will pay off should feel a little bit better now. Meta announced Thursday that it is partnering with defense-technology company Anduril to create VR and AR devices such as headsets for the U.S. Army — and the news piqued our interest for a few reasons. For starters, the privately held Anduril was started by none other than Palmer Luckey, the founder of Oculus, which Meta acquired in 2014 for $2 billion to kickstart its ambitions in the world of VR technology. Luckey had an acrimonious split with the company then known as Facebook in 2017, but now they're back on working terms. But, as investors, the main reason to care is that working with Anduril could be a boon for Meta's Reality Labs division — home to its VR and AR teams, along with CEO Mark Zuckerberg's "metaverse" ambitions more broadly. Reality Labs has racked up cumulative operating losses north of $60 billion since late 2020, including a hefty $4.2 billion loss in the company's first quarter. In recent years, Wall Street has generally given Meta a pass on the Reality Labs losses — the stock is up more than 430% since the start of 2023. To be sure, that follows a brutal 2022 in which Meta shares lost nearly two-thirds of their value, driven in part by investor concerns about Zuckerberg's aggressive spending. But since then, the market has largely glossed over the Reality Labs losses thanks to Zuckerberg's intense focus on efficiency across the entire company, including steep job cuts, and the strong performance of its core Facebook and Instagram businesses. At the same time, investors also have gained an improved understanding on where Zuckerberg's controversial metaverse vision fits into the grand scheme of things. While Zuckerberg's north star may still be some form of the metaverse — a virtual world where people hang out, play, and shop — there is a recognition that the technology needed to get us there is artificial intelligence. AI, of course, has very real-world applications today, and Meta is investing heavily in it. AI is already delivering improvements to its bread-and-butter advertising business through improved ad targeting. Meta's Reality Labs has picked up some smaller successes along the way, most notably the AI-infused smart glasses made in collaboration with Ray-Ban. But, as the first-quarter results showed, the glasses haven't led to a materially improved financial picture for that division. And because we've seen Wall Street grow anxious before over the Reality Labs losses, we wouldn't be surprised to see it happen again without a better understanding of its future. That's where teaming up with Anduril comes into play. The partnership revolves around the U.S. government's Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS) contract. This 10-year, $22 billion contract was initially awarded to Club name Microsoft in 2021. In late 2024, Microsoft partnered with Anduril to incorporate the latter's "Lattice" operating system onto Microsoft's mixed reality HoloLens platform. Then, earlier this year, Microsoft opted to hand control of the contract over to Anduril, giving it "oversight of production, future development of hardware and software, and delivery timelines," according to a press release. In exchange, Microsoft's Azure became Anduril's preferred cloud-computing destination for all IVAS-related workloads and Anduril's AI technologies. Anduril has named its next-generation IVAS product EagleEye. We're not arguing that the Anduril partnership will be a financial needle mover in the near term. However, if the effort proves successful — and betting against either Zuckerberg or Luckey has never proven a good bet — it provides a pathway to generate a stable source of Reality Labs sales from the U.S. government, and that means operating losses in the division should improve, assuming expenses remain under control. The move should also help further diversify the company's overall revenue stream, which is almost entirely reliant on social media ads, in the years to come. While Meta has proven to still be a fantastic outlet for advertisers, revenue diversification in the era of AI is a good thing to see. Consumer behaviors are already evolving — consider the way hundreds of millions of people are turning to AI chatbots, threatening online ad competitor Alphabet's core internet search business — and who knows what other changes could be in store. At a higher level, Meta's work with Anduril points to a continued shift in the private company/government partnerships. Some Silicon Valley tech giants have historically been hesitant to contract with the U.S. military out of fear of retaliation from consumers, employees, or both. However, we are now seeing top U.S. tech companies become more open to government partnerships. Indeed, late last year, Meta said it made its Llama AI model " available to U.S. government agencies and contractors working on national security applications." Zuckerberg also has taken steps to improve his relationship with President Donald Trump. In an interview on the Core Memory podcast released shortly after Thursday's news became public, Luckey shared some interesting thoughts on how Anduril can leverage all the money that Meta has so far invested to build products like the Ray-Ban glasses and Quest headsets: "What we're doing is working with Meta to take the building blocks that they've invested enormous amounts of money and expertise in, and we're able to use those building blocks in EagleEye without having to recreate them ourselves. There's things that Anduril probably could do if we were willing to put billions of dollars of taxpayer money into it. I think we could convince the Army to give us a lot of money to recreate these things, but why would you do that when they've already been made? Why spend five years doing something when it's already been done in the consumer sector? ... They do have a lot of intellectual property and building blocks that they've built that are just as useful on the battlefield as they are on the head of any consumer." That's not to say that Meta is going to start developing military-grade hardware, but this does offer up an opportunity to further monetize its massive investment in research and development (R & D) by licensing out whatever consumer-grade hardware and software may be useful to Anduril as it looks to build out the final product. On the same podcast, Luckey said Anduril and Meta have already been working closely together for the better part of a year, relying entirely on private funding for the initiative during that time. This is particularly notable because it suggests that Meta does not need to ramp up hiring overnight to handle the work with Anduril, potentially adding expenses to Reality Labs. It's already been ongoing. Bottom line Meta's partnership with Anduril represents an encouraging — albeit incremental — move in addressing the large Reality Labs losses, which could fuel additional earnings growth for the company. Just how significant a contribution this effort becomes, of course, depends on Anduril's ability to make EagleEye a success with widespread U.S. military adoption. On the podcast, Luckey said Anduril's intent is to deliver first prototypes to the Army this year, "if all goes according to plan the way that I hope." So, as with the Ray-Ban glasses, we may not see the fruits of this effort on Meta's next earnings report or even the next few after that. But there is now a more clear path for Reality Labs to start pleasing skeptical investors. (Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust is long META and MSFT. See here for a full list of the stocks.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Meta working with Anduril on AR/VR military tech for soldiers
Meta (META) is moving beyond social media platforms and AR headsets and into the military-industrial complex. The company on Thursday announced it's teaming up with Palmer Luckey's Anduril ( to produce extended reality products for soldiers. The devices, Anduril said in a statement, will provide 'enhanced perception and enable intuitive control of autonomous platforms on the battlefield.' Luckey founded Anduril in 2017 after he sold his VR headset company Oculus to Meta (then Facebook) in 2014 for $2.3 billion. The company primarily specializes in developing and deploying various forms of military drones. 'I am glad to be working with Meta once again,' Luckey said in a statement. 'Of all the areas where dual-use technology can make a difference for America, this is the one I am most excited about. My mission has long been to turn warfighters into technomancers, and the products we are building with Meta do just that.' Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg began making a push into military and defense products when he opened up the company's Llama AI models for use by the government and contractors working on national defense projects. According to the companies, the new system will include an AR/VR interface that works with Anduril's Lattice analytics platform to feed soldiers information about the world around them. 'The world is entering a new era of computing that will give people access to limitless intelligence and extend their senses and perception in ways that have never been possible before,' Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth said. 'Our national security benefits enormously from American industry bringing these technologies to life.' Meta isn't the first Big Tech company to enter the military space. Amazon (AMZN), Google (GOOG, GOOGL), and Microsoft (MSFT) provide cloud services to the US military. Microsoft also turned over work on Army's own AR/VR system to Anduril in February. Microsoft will also power the company's cloud services related to "IVAS and Anduril AI technologies." Email Daniel Howley at dhowley@ Follow him on X/Twitter at @DanielHowley. Error while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Meta working with Anduril on AR/VR military tech for soldiers
Meta (META) is moving beyond social media platforms and AR headsets and into the military-industrial complex. The company on Thursday announced it's teaming up with Palmer Luckey's Anduril ( to produce extended reality products for soldiers. The devices, Anduril said in a statement, will provide 'enhanced perception and enable intuitive control of autonomous platforms on the battlefield.' Luckey founded Anduril in 2017 after he sold his VR headset company Oculus to Meta (then Facebook) in 2014 for $2.3 billion. The company primarily specializes in developing and deploying various forms of military drones. 'I am glad to be working with Meta once again,' Luckey said in a statement. 'Of all the areas where dual-use technology can make a difference for America, this is the one I am most excited about. My mission has long been to turn warfighters into technomancers, and the products we are building with Meta do just that.' Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg began making a push into military and defense products when he opened up the company's Llama AI models for use by the government and contractors working on national defense projects. According to the companies, the new system will include an AR/VR interface that works with Anduril's Lattice analytics platform to feed soldiers information about the world around them. 'The world is entering a new era of computing that will give people access to limitless intelligence and extend their senses and perception in ways that have never been possible before,' Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth said. 'Our national security benefits enormously from American industry bringing these technologies to life.' Meta isn't the first Big Tech company to enter the military space. Amazon (AMZN), Google (GOOG, GOOGL), and Microsoft (MSFT) provide cloud services to the US military. Microsoft also turned over work on Army's own AR/VR system to Anduril in February. Microsoft will also power the company's cloud services related to "IVAS and Anduril AI technologies." Email Daniel Howley at dhowley@ Follow him on X/Twitter at @DanielHowley.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Meta working with Anduril on AR/VR military tech for soldiers
Meta (META) is moving beyond social media platforms and AR headsets and into the military-industrial complex. The company on Thursday announced it's teaming up with Palmer Luckey's Anduril ( to produce extended reality products for soldiers. The devices, Anduril said in a statement, will provide 'enhanced perception and enable intuitive control of autonomous platforms on the battlefield.' Luckey founded Anduril in 2017 after he sold his VR headset company Oculus to Meta (then Facebook) in 2014 for $2.3 billion. The company primarily specializes in developing and deploying various forms of military drones. 'I am glad to be working with Meta once again,' Luckey said in a statement. 'Of all the areas where dual-use technology can make a difference for America, this is the one I am most excited about. My mission has long been to turn warfighters into technomancers, and the products we are building with Meta do just that.' Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg began making a push into military and defense products when he opened up the company's Llama AI models for use by the government and contractors working on national defense projects. According to the companies, the new system will include an AR/VR interface that works with Anduril's Lattice analytics platform to feed soldiers information about the world around them. 'The world is entering a new era of computing that will give people access to limitless intelligence and extend their senses and perception in ways that have never been possible before,' Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth said. 'Our national security benefits enormously from American industry bringing these technologies to life.' Meta isn't the first Big Tech company to enter the military space. Amazon (AMZN), Google (GOOG, GOOGL), and Microsoft (MSFT) provide cloud services to the US military. Microsoft also turned over work on Army's own AR/VR system to Anduril in February. Microsoft will also power the company's cloud services related to "IVAS and Anduril AI technologies." Email Daniel Howley at dhowley@ Follow him on X/Twitter at @DanielHowley.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
In a victory for Palmer Luckey, Meta and Anduril work on mixed reality headsets for the military
On Thursday, Anduril and Meta announced news that feels like a fairy tale ending for Anduril co-founder, Palmer Luckey. The two companies are working together to build extended reality (XR) devices for the U.S. military, Anduril announced in a blog post. 'I am glad to be working with Meta once again,' Luckey is quoted as saying in the post. 'My mission has long been to turn warfighters into technomancers, and the products we are building with Meta do just that.' This partnership stems from the Soldier Borne Mission Command Next (SBMC) program, formerly called the Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS) Next. IVAS was a massive military contract, with a total $22 billion budget, originally awarded to Microsoft in 2018 intended to develop Hololens-like AR glasses for soldiers. But after endless problems, in February the Army stripped management of the program from Microsoft and awarded it to Anduril, with Microsoft staying on as a cloud provider. The intent is to eventually have multiple suppliers of mixed reality glasses for soldiers. All of this meant that if Luckey's former employer, Meta, wanted to tap into the potentially lucrative world of military VR/AR/XR headsets, it would need to go through Anduril. The devices will be based on tech out of Meta's AR/VR research center Reality Labs, the post says. They'll use Meta's Llma AI model, and they will tap into Anduril's command and control software known as Lattice. The idea is to provide soldiers with a heads-up display of battlefield intelligence in real time. Luckey is apparently feeling good about this reconciliation. He was, of course, famously fired from Facebook in 2017, about three years after Facebook bought his startup Oculus for $2 billion. This came after Luckey was embroiled in a brouhaha over his support for Donald Trump in his 2016 election. Luckey turned around and founded Anduril in 2017, with co-founders Brian Schimpf, Trae Stephens, Matt Grimm. An Anduril spokesperson tells TechCrunch that the product family Meta and Anduril are building is even called EagleEye, which will be an ecosystem of devices. EagleEye is what Luckey named Anduril's first imagined headset in Anduril's pitch deck draft, before his investors convinced him to focus on building software first. 'All of them had worked with me for years via Oculus VR, and when they saw the EagleEye headset in our first Anduril pitch deck draft, they pointed out that it seemed like I was sequencing things irrationally. They believed, correctly, that I was too focused on winning a pissing contest over the future of AR/VR, on proving that I was right and the people who fired me were wrong,' Luckey tweeted in February after winning the IVAS contract After Thursday's news, Luckey posted on X: 'It is pretty cool to have everything at our fingertips for this joint effort - everything I made before Meta acquired Oculus, everything we made together, and everything we did on our own after I was fired.' And to show that Luckey has really buried the hatchet, he said Anduril has even launched a Facebook page. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data
