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

It marks HTC’s second major deal with Google, which bought part of the Taiwan company’s smartphone operations for $1.1 billion in 2017.

Google said Thursday that it has signed an agreement with HTC to buy some of its extended reality engineering team for NT$8.19 billion (US$250 million). The search giant said in a press release the deal will accelerate the development of Google’s Android extended reality platform across the headsets and glasses ecosystem.

Taiwans HTC announced it will sell part of its extended reality (XR) division to Google for $250 million. The deal, expected to close in the first quarter of 2025, will see some HTC employees join Google,

Google is paying HTC $250 million in cash for a deal that will give the bigger company's plans for Android XR a boost. Under the terms of their agreement, some members of the HTC Vive engineering team will be joining Google,

Google has bought parts of another HTC division, coming years after the company acquired most of HTC's mobile unit.