Google Acquired MicroLED Display Startup Raxium

On Wednesday, Google confirmed it has purchased Raxium, a startup that specializes in MicroLED displays for AR and VR headsets. The news was announced via a blog post by Google hardware boss Rick Osterloh.

"The team at Raxium has spent five years creating miniaturized, cost-effective and energy efficient high-resolution displays that have laid the foundation for future display technologies," he wrote. "Raxium’s technical expertise in this area will play a key role as we continue to invest in our hardware efforts."

A deal with Raxium was first reported last month by The Information. In the report, the outlet noted that MicroLED tech could be a great solution for building AR displays as they are both energy-efficient and look colorful, so Google might be interested in owning the company to utilize key display components for its future AR/VR products, instead of outsourcing.

The report also mentioned that the tech could be also used in future Pixel phones or Starline immersive videoconferencing products.

According to Raxium’s website, the company is working on bringing "monolithic integration" for MicroLEDs which, as The Information states, would help to manufacture them out of the same kind of silicon that is used for most processors, so it could significantly reduce the price of producing the display tech.

Besides, the company claims that its display's pixel pitch (the density of pixels on an LED display) is much smaller than the one on a Super AMOLED screen – it is able to manage around 3.5 microns compared to 50 microns on Super AMOLED.

It's currently unclear which products Google intends to use the tech for when the display tech becomes less expensive.

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