Google has agreed to acquire a part of HTC's extended reality (XR) business for $250 million, expanding its push into virtual and augmented reality The deal involves transferring some of the HTC VIVE engineering staff to Google and granting non-exclusive IP rights.

Taiwan's HTC said on Thursday it will sell part of its unit for extended reality (XR) headsets and glasses to Google for $250 million and transfer some of its employees to the U.S. company. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of this year,

HTC and Google have struck a major deal in the XR field, with Google agreeing to pay HTC US$250 million. Under the agreement, a portion of HTC's XR R&D team will join Google, and HTC has granted Google a non-exclusive license for its XR-related intellectual property while retaining the right to continue developing and using these technologies.