Part of HTC Vive's engineering team has been acquired by Google for $250 million. The team's expertise in the virtual reality (VR) and mixed reality (MR) space will be used by Google to drive the development of its Android XR operating system. This is the second time Google has acquired a team from HTC. Eight years ago, they acquired the design team to produce the Google Pixel for $1.1 billion.
Through the signed agreement, Google will also have access to HTC's XR technology intellectual property, but not exclusively. The two companies will also look to expand their collaboration in the future. Android XR will be used by Samsung's Project Moohan headset and Samsung's smart glasses, which are still in the early stages of development.
Although part of the Vive team has been sold, HTC has no plans to end production of its headset anytime soon.