Taiwan-based HTC said it will be selling part of its unit for extended reality (XR) headsets and glasses to Google in a $250 million deal. Some of HTC’s employees will also be joining Google as part of the deal.
The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of this year. And Google and HTC are also exploring more collaboration opportunities.
This is not the first time that Google and HTC have closely collaborated. In 2017, Google acquired a portion of HTC’s smartphone operations in a $1.1 billion deal.
This deal is expected to accelerate the Android XR platform’s development and strengthen the ecosystem for headsets and glasses. As part of the deal, HTC had also granted its intellectual property (IP) rights to Google as part of a non-exclusive license.
As part of the deal, Google will receive a non-exclusive license for HTC’s XR intellectual property (IP). And HTC will still be able to retain the ability to use, utilize, and develop it without restrictions.
This agreement also reaffirms HTC’s continued development strategy around the XR ecosystem while enabling a more streamlined product portfolio focusing on platforms, greater operational efficiency, and financial flexibility. And HTC’s commitment to delivering VIVE XR solutions like the VIVE Focus Vision remains unchanged, with existing product lines and solutions to be supported and developed without interruption.
The transfer to Google of a technical team with a track record in the VR/XR space also builds on Google’s significant investment in Taiwan as a key innovation and technology hub.
This deal is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close in Q1 2025.
Evercore served as financial advisor to HTC and Gibson Dunn and Tsar & Tsai acted as legal counsel.