Qualcomm China has announced a partnership with Baidu to develop extended reality technology and metaverse infrastructures. 

Baidu stated the two tech giants will also work on developing generative AI and had signed a non-binding strategic agreement. 

The Chinese internet company said it would be able to develop XR applications faster by using Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Spaces XR developer platform. 

Baidu said it will look to combine XR, AI and other tech to create applications for a range of industries such as tourism, education and sports. 

Cheng Lixin, Qualcomm global SVP, said the partnership will speed up the development of the metaverse in China.

The Qualcomm and Baidu news comes after a drop in popularity for the metaverse and extended reality, as generative AI applications like OpenAI’s ChatGPT have dominated headlines. 

Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta, which rebranded its name in 2021 to highlight the company’s drive to building a metaverse, notably changed its tune to an AI focus in a March earnings call. 

In a November statement, Zuckerberg continued to back his fledgling metaverse dream, calling it a “high-priority growth area”. However, in March, the CEO stated that focusing on “advancing AI” was the US company’s “single largest investment”.

The total value of global venture financing deals in VR and AR, the tech that makes up a key part of the metaverse, has slowed down this year too. 

As of 15 September, venture financing deals in VR and AR totalled $521m in 2023, according to research company GlobalData's deal database.

This is significantly lower than the year prior with just three months left to go in the year.

In 2022, the value of global venture financing deals in VR and AR reached $1.6bn. This was a slight increase from 2021, which totalled $1.5bn.