Intel Is Said to Shutter Its Augmented-Reality Goggles Brand

(Bloomberg) -- Intel Corp. has closed its Recon brand of augmented-reality goggles for sporting and industrial applications, according to people familiar with the decision.

The chipmaker shut the 100-employee unit that made the goggles earlier this summer, the people said. Intel acquired Recon in 2015 for an undisclosed sum, and had already cut one third of the unit's workforce before the subsequent closing, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the decision hasn't been made public. The company intends to fulfill the existing contracts for the goggles, one of the people said.

The Santa Clara, California-based company will continue to work on technologies to power augmented and virtual reality, a spokeswoman said, while declining to comment on the Recon division.

Intel, the world's largest chipmaker, has been seeking to reduce its dependence on personal computers and expand its products into other areas such as autonomous cars.

To contact the reporter on this story: Alex Webb in San Francisco at awebb25@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Tom Giles at tgiles5@bloomberg.net, Andrew Pollack, Molly Schuetz