Meta Teams Up With Telefonica to Build a Metaverse Innovation Hub in Madrid

Meta has partnered with Spanish telecommunications giant Telefonica to build a metaverse innovation hub in Madrid as part of the company’s investment plan in the country.
Image source: about.fb.com

Quick take:

  • Meta has launched a multi-pronged plan to invest in Spain’s digital infrastructure.
  • The company has teamed up with local telecommunications company Telefonica to build a metaverse innovation hub in Madrid.
  • Meta plans to recruit 2,000 people over the next five years as it builds the world’s first Meta Lab.

Meta Platforms is teaming up with the Spanish telecommunications giant to build a metaverse innovation hub in Madrid. The company announced a multi-pronged investment plan that will see it recruit 2,000 people in the country over the next five years and launch the world’s first Meta Hub.

Announcing the plan through its website, Meta wrote “as our company prepares to help build the metaverse, we’re placing Spain at the heart of our plans through the creation of new, high skilled jobs, support for local entrepreneurs and tech businesses and investment in vital digital infrastructure.”

The world’s first Meta Lab will be a flexible base for the company’s remote workers in Spain, with space for local entrepreneurs and business startups. The company also plans to double its office space in Madrid.

The metaverse innovation hub will help accelerate the metaverse network and device readiness. To bring this dream to life, Meta is investing in the country’s connectivity infrastructure including investment in “the world’s first half petabit trans-Atlantic submarine cable and the 2Africa cable will land in Spain, as well as the existing Marea cable.”

Acknowledging the need to collaborate with other companies to build the metaverse, Meta said the immersive virtual world won’t be owned by a single company, also adding that it will take longer to become a reality.

“But the metaverse has the potential to help unlock access to new creative, social and economic opportunities, and we want people in Spain to help us shape it right from the start,” the blog post read.

Meta is betting on its new Meta Lab to be at the centre of Spain’s tech innovation as the country embraces the shift to Web3. However, it will take more than just Meta’s technological initiatives to help Spain reap the benefits of the metaverse. 

The company said that collaborations with local companies like Telefonica, and also with creators and policymakers will be crucial. The company has recently faced criticism for its data privacy and user protection protocols prompting it to add privacy features to its Horizon Worlds metaverse.

The company also said it was kicking off with plans to build a new Data Centre in Castilla La Mancha.

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