Facebook Seeks Engineers for Custom AR Chips

Facebook is stepping up its investments in augmented reality, seeking to hire engineers to work on custom silicon chips for devices that enable the technology.

In at least four job listings posted in recent days, a research group inside the company called Facebook Reality Labs advertised engineering positions requiring expertise in the design of custom chips, which it said are necessitated by augmented reality’s need for computing power. AR, as the technology is known, uses hardware and software to blend digital imagery with people’s views of the real world. Through its $2 billion acquisition of Oculus, Facebook has become a more visible proponent of another technology, virtual reality, which uses headsets to immerse people completely in simulated environments. While the company has created some early AR applications, it has not openly discussed plans for AR hardware akin to the Oculus VR headsets it currently sells.