INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Facebook through Oculus virtual reality division is working on several future devices
has sent another signal that it's serious about building its own semiconductors, joining Apple Inc., Alphabet Inc.'s Google, and Amazon.com
in trying to make its own custom chips.The social-networking giant this month hired Shahriar Rabii to be a vice president and its head of
Rabii previously worked at Google, where he helped lead the team in charge of building chips for the company's devices, including the Pixel
smartphone's custom Visual Core chip, according to his LinkedIn profile
He'll work under Andrew Bosworth, the company's head of virtual reality and augmented reality, according to people familiar with the
matter.Spokesmen for Facebook and Google declined to comment on Rabii's move.Facebook started forming a team to design chips earlier this
year, Bloomberg News reported in April
The Menlo Park, California-based company is working on semiconductors, which can be useful for a variety of different efforts, including to
process information for its vast data centers and its artificial intelligence work.Google has been developing more chips for its future
Later this year, the Mountain View, California-based search giant plans to release new Pixel phones with upgraded cameras and an
edge-to-edge screen on the new larger model, Bloomberg News reported in May.Facebook and Google's moves are part of a trend in which
technology companies are seeking to supply themselves with semiconductors and lower their dependence on chipmakers such as Intel Corp
Apple has been shipping its own custom main processors in iPads and iPhones since 2010, and has created an array of custom chips for
controlling Bluetooth, taking pictures, and conducing machine learning tasks
By 2020, the iPhone maker hopes to start shipping Macs with its own main processors.Facebook, through its Oculus virtual reality division
and Building 8 hardware divisions, is working on several future devices
Earlier this year, the company launched the Oculus Go standalone virtual reality headset with a Qualcomm smartphone chip
Facebook is also working on its first branded hardware: a series of smart speakers with large touch screens that can also be used for video
chats.Future generations of those devices could be improved by custom processors
With its own chips, Facebook also would gain finer control over product development and could better tie together its software and
hardware.Custom chips may also improve the company's efforts in artificial intelligence
Facebook has been working to use AI to better understand the nature of content people post on social media, so that it can quickly take down
hate speech, fake accounts and live videos of violence
But so far, even human moderators are having trouble judging content consistently.(This story has not been edited by TheIndianSubcontinent
staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
