Facebook’s Oculus acquires InfiniLED, an Irish startup that makes low-power LED displays

Facebook-owned virtual reality (VR) firm Oculus has acquired InfiniLED, an Irish startup specializing in low-power LED displays.

Founded in 2010, InfiniLED was spun out from the Tyndall National Institute, a research hub specializing in photonics and micro/nanoelectronics that’s aligned with University College Cork. The company touts its ILED (inorganic LED, also referred to as MicroLED) display smarts, which is a next-generation technology that could succeed the likes of OLED, plasma, and LCD through offering greater power efficiency at a lower cost.

News first started emerge of the acquisition in local media outlets after some observant individuals noticed that the sign on the door to InfiniLED’s offices had been replaced with ‘Oculus’, according to SiliconRepublic. VentureBeat has independently confirmed with Oculus that InfiniLED has indeed now joined the Oculus research team in Cork, though when pushed to confirm terms or any other facet of the deal, an Oculus spokesperson would only say: “That’s all we’re sharing right now.”

That Oculus would wish to invest in a team that’s making low-power LED displays isn’t entirely surprising, and confirms that the company is seeking ways to not only increase the efficiency of its own VR headsets, but also bring down the cost.

Facebook acquired Oculus for $2 billion back in 2014, and the subsidiary has made a string of acquisitions in the two-and-half years since. In June 2014, Oculus snapped up Carbon Design Group, a Seattle-based firm behind the design of Microsoft’s Xbox 360 controller, Kinect motion-sensing camera, and other hardware. Oculus later went on to acquire game-networking engine RakNet, VR firms Nimble VR and 13th Lab, computer vision startup Surreal Vision, and motion-sensing technology startup Pebbles Interfaces.