Irish researchers university spin-out company acquired by virtual-reality giant Oculus
News of the deal was confirmed by Tyndall National Institute in Cork last night.
However, the terms of the deal are not being disclosed.
Oculus, the Facebook-owned, California-based virtual-reality company plans to use Cork-based InfiniLED’s technology to enhance the performance of its next-generation VR devices.
InfiniLED was founded in 2010, based on ground-breaking research conducted by Tyndall researcher Brian Corbett and his team on the development of low-power light emitting diodes, or LEDs.
Supported and funded by Enterprise Ireland, the company focused on developing low-power display technology known as ILED.
The technology was commercialised when the company was spun out from Tyndall at UCC in 2011 and was further enhanced and developed.
Today, its latest LED technology creates high-quality displays with reduced power consumption, extending the battery life for portable devices, such as cameras, mobile phones, laptops, and VR devices.
The technology means its displays consume up to 40 times less power than normal LCD and OLED displays and are capable of producing four times more light, with better contrast and colour range. InfiniLED still uses Tyndall’s specialised hi-tech fabrication facilities.
Tyndall chief executive Dr Kieran Drain said: “It is exciting to see that Oculus — a vibrant and leading-edge company — appreciates both the technology and the strength of the ecosystem that the InfiniLED team sits in. A key impact of this acquisition will be to increase global awareness that Ireland has technology and research of this calibre.”
Oculus VR was acquired by Facebook in 2014 for $2bn. It is best known for the Oculus Rift virtual-reality headset, which is used by gamers, and for immersive movies and educational experiences.
