Meta stated this week that Spain will lead its Metaverse efforts and develop its existing mixed reality (VR) platforms, such as Horizon Worlds, Workrooms, and Venues.
Meta’s vice president of products and Cross-Meta infrastructure, Javier Olivan, stated, “I believe that Spain has the potential to be at the forefront of European technology, and that [Spain] is already establishing strong technology hubs across the country, with many entrepreneurs and technology talent. That’s why, with considerable investments in people and infrastructure, we’re putting Spain at the center of our company’s future.”
Meta is creating new high-skilled employment, helping local entrepreneurs and technology companies, and investing in digital infrastructure as part of its European development.
The group has been putting money into high-skilled jobs in Spain. The Menlo Park-based firm will hire 2,000 workers over the next five years, according to Olivan, and will construct the “world’s first Meta Lab” in Madrid during that time.
The Meta Lab will serve as a real gathering place for remote employees to interact and receive help from local digital businesses and entrepreneurs. In Castilla La Mancha, Meta is also building a new data center.
In addition, the company is constructing the world’s “first” petabit underwater cable to improve local digital infrastructure, which, according to Olivan, will improve connection for the whole local IT sector.
“We are working to construct the Metaverse, a new phase of the internet built around interconnected virtual experiences that can enable access to new creative, social, and economic opportunities,” the vice president stated. Users of Meta Quest can access the Horizon Metaverse platform through the Oculus software store’s Venues and Workrooms. This development comes after Meta debuted Horizon Worlds in December of last year for a limited number of users in the United States (US) and Canada.
Nevertheless, Meta has been encountering difficulties in its quest to build Metaverse solutions in the EU, after threatening to leave the EU for the second time if regulators refuse to allow the business to move customer data to the US.
For MetaNews.