Facebook hires top Google engineer to head its in-house chip development

Facebook has sent another signal that it’s serious about building its own semiconductors, joining Apple, Alphabet’s Google, and Amazon.com in trying to make its own custom chips.

The social-networking giant this month hired Shahriar Rabii to be a vice president and its head of silicon. Rabii previously worked at Google, where he helped lead the team in charge of building chips for the company’s devices, including the Pixel smartphone’s custom Visual Core chip, according to his LinkedIn profile. He’ll work under Andrew Bosworth, the company’s head of virtual reality and augmented reality, according to people familiar with the matter. Spokesmen for Facebook and Google declined to comment on Rabii’s move.

Facebook started forming a team to design chips earlier this year, Bloomberg News reported in April. The Menlo Park, California-based company is working on semiconductors, which can be useful for a variety of different efforts, including to process information for its vast data centres and its artificial intelligence work.

Google has been developing more chips for its future devices. Later this year, the Mountain View, California-based search giant plans to release new Pixel phones with upgraded cameras and an edge-to-edge screen on the new larger model, Bloomberg News reported in May.

Facebook and Google’s moves are part of a trend in which technology companies are seeking to supply themselves with semiconductors and lower their dependence on chipmakers such as Intel and Qualcomm. 

@2018Bloomberg