The world’s largest eyewear manufacturer, EssilorLuxottica, has entered into a long-term partnership with chipmaking equipment company Applied Materials to develop augmented reality display technology and AI-powered glasses, the two companies announced Tuesday.
Under the agreement, the two companies will work together to expand the commercial availability of AI glasses, with research and development centered on cutting-edge optical technologies.
EssilorLuxottica is already a major player in the AI glasses space through an ongoing partnership with Meta, selling smart glasses under both the Ray-Ban and Oakley brand names. The companies took another step forward in 2025 with the launch of the Ray-Ban Meta Display — their first device to feature a built-in screen.
AI-powered glasses work by embedding a camera, microphone, and speakers directly into a standard eyeglass frame. An AI voice assistant built into the device can answer questions and describe what the wearer is looking at.
Augmented reality technology — which layers digital images over a person’s natural field of vision — presents a significantly more difficult optical engineering challenge than standard AI glasses.
Applied Materials, headquartered in California, manufactures the specialized equipment used to build the ultra-thin layers of material found at the core of the semiconductor chips required to power AR displays.
