Meta Platforms announced on Tuesday that it will increase investment in artificial intelligence research in the nation starting in 2025 and producing its most recent mixed reality headsets.
TakeAway Points:
- Meta Platforms announced on Tuesday that it will increase its investment in artificial intelligence research there. This includes starting manufacturing of its most recent mixed reality headsets in 2025.
- Meta did clarify whether the manufacturing was done via suppliers.
- Michelle Chang, a seasoned Microsoft executive, was appointed chief financial officer of Zoom Video Communications on Tuesday, with effect from October 7.
- Serve Robotics announced that it will collaborate with Wing Aviation, an Alphabet company, to employ drones.
Mixed reality headsets
The announcement came during a visit to Vietnam by Meta’s president for global affairs, Nick Clegg, just a week after he met Vietnamese President To Lam in New York.
“Beginning 2025, Meta will expand manufacturing of its latest Mixed Reality device, Quest 3S, to Vietnam,” Clegg said in a statement.
The company did not clarify whether the manufacturing was done via suppliers.
In Vietnam, Meta has tens of millions of users of its Facebook social media platform.
“Vietnam continues to be an important country for Meta. Millions of small businesses and consumers rely on our platforms,” Clegg said in the statement.
Meta also said it would soon begin testing Meta AI in Vietnamese, having started its Business AI for Messenger testing in the country in June, with its full launch by the end of this year.
Zoom names Microsoft veteran Chang finance chief
Zoom Video Communications on Tuesday named veteran Microsoft executive Michelle Chang as its chief financial officer, effective Oct. 7.
Chang, who joined the tech giant in April 2000, was most recently the CFO of Microsoft’s Commercial Sales & Partner Organization. She will report to Zoom founder and CEO Eric Yuan.
She will succeed Kelly Steckelberg, whose resignation was announced in August. Steckelberg, who will continue in an advisory capacity until the announcement of third-quarter results, led the company through its successful IPO in 2019.
San Jose, California-based Zoom has been bolstering its for video-conferencing products with artificial intelligence to leverage hybrid work requirements across businesses.
The efforts are paying off, as the company last month raised its annual revenue forecast.
Serve Robotics partners with Alphabet’s unit for drone deliveries
Serve Robotics, a company that uses sidewalk robots to deliver meals for Uber Eats, announced that it will collaborate with Wing Aviation, a company owned by Alphabet, to employ drones, increasing its operational range to over six miles.
The pilot, announced on Tuesday, would take place in Dallas, Texas, and mark Serve’s entry into the market. The tie-up will have Serve’s robots pick up food from restaurants and transfer it to Wing drones for aerial delivery.
The company’s operations have so far focused on Los Angeles, where it delivers food and groceries for convenience retailer 7-Eleven and Shake Shack, in addition to Uber Eats.
Multi-modal delivery will expand Serve’s reach, enabling 30-minute autonomous delivery citywide, Serve’s CEO Ali Kashani said.
While drones were once touted to be the future of package and food delivery, their adoption has been limited by a lack of spaces for takeoff and landing in cities. Unlike them, sidewalk delivery robots are designed to navigate urban environments, making them a more practical solution.
“Through this pilot partnership, Wing hopes to reach more merchants in highly congested areas while supporting Serve as it works to expand its delivery radius,” Wing CEO Adam Woodworth said.
Serve, spun off from Postmates in 2021 a year after its acquisition by Uber, said merchants would not have to make any changes to their workflow or facilities to accommodate robot-to-drone deliveries.
The Alphabet unit, which started as a project within incubator Google X, has completed more than 400,000 commercial deliveries across three continents, Woodworth added.
