News Summary

Microsoft is planning to transfer much of its Army HoloLens program to the defense startup Anduril, founded by Palmer Luckey, contingent upon approval by the Department of Defense. Under this new arrangement, Microsoft will provide cloud infrastructure and AI, while Anduril will handle production, development of hardware and software, and delivery timelines for the Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS). The program, initially launched by Microsoft in 2019, faced issues such as nausea, eyestrain, and headaches, which caused Congress to reduce funding. Encouraging feedback on the latest prototypes has been reported, but the Army is seeking cost reductions before proceeding with a potential order of up to 121,000 devices. Anduril is also in talks to raise $2.5 billion at a valuation of $28 billion.