Chipmaker Qualcomm is considering putting its Vuforia augmented reality technology division up for sale, sources said, as part of an ongoing restructuring of the company.
Qualcomm Exploring Sale of Vuforia Augmented Reality Unit
The move comes as the San Diego-based company looks to cut $1.4 billion in costs and exit non-core businesses.
Asa Mathat
Qualcomm said back in July that it was cutting $1.4 billion in costs, laying off 15 percent of staff and scaling back on some of its more far-flung efforts. At the time, Qualcomm declined to specify any of the projects that were getting cut, but it appears Vuforia is among the ones on the chopping block.
According to these sources, Qualcomm is looking at options for Vuforia, hoping it can find a home outside of Qualcomm. The company did something similar with Gimbal, a location beacon technology, which is now an independent company.
It was not immediately clear how far along Qualcomm is in these discussions.
A Qualcomm representative declined comment on the company’s plans for Vuforia.
Vuforia has appeared in some high-profile marketing campaigns, including a World Cup promotion that turned McDonald’s french fry boxes into soccer goals.
At the same time, augmented reality is one of those technologies that seems to always be just about to take off.
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
