Daniele Lepido and Antonio Vanuzzo
(Bloomberg) — Meta Platforms Inc. and EssilorLuxottica SA are discussing potentially doubling production capacity for AI-powered smart glasses by the end of this year, in a bid to capture growing demand and head off rivals, according to people familiar with the matter.
With sales of Ray-Ban Meta frames taking hold, Facebook-owner Meta has suggested increasing annual capacity to 20 million units or more by the end of 2026, said the people, asking not to be named because the deliberations are private.
The partners have also discussed going further to establish the capability of producing more than 30 million units, should demand justify such a move, the people said. They cautioned that no decisions have been made.
The talks underscore Meta’s desire to extend its artificial-intelligence strategy into hardware it can control end-to-end, reducing the tech giant’s reliance on smartphones produced by competitors. A step-up in output would signal confidence that smart glasses can move beyond early adopters and reach mass-market scale.
EssilorLuxottica, which is responsible for manufacturing, is already near its current capacity target of 10 million pairs by the end of 2026, one of the people said. The world’s largest eyewear maker, with brands such as Ray-Ban and Oakley and retailers Sunglass Hut and LensCrafters, has a production footprint and customer reach giving Meta a large-scale platform to expand its smart-glasses lead.
Representatives for Meta and EssilorLuxottica declined to comment.
The talks on production reflect a deepening relationship as Meta pivots toward the augmented reality of smart glasses and lowers its commitment to fully immersive VR headsets. The tech company last year bought about a 3% stake in EssilorLuxottica, giving Meta closer access to EssilorLuxottica’s manufacturing know-how and retail network.
The two companies began working together in 2019 and launched their first Ray-Ban branded smart glasses in 2021. They have reported growing momentum in recent months, with EssilorLuxottica saying in October that Meta smart glasses helped spur revenue growth in the third quarter.
In September, Meta unveiled the latest $799 Meta Ray-Ban Display in the US, incorporating for the first time text that appears directly on the right-hand lens. At the CES expo in Las Vegas last week, Meta said it had paused an international expansion of the new frames to the UK, France, Italy and Canada because of “unprecedented demand and limited inventory.”
The news gave EssilorLuxottica shares a 5.2% boost on Jan. 6, after a 15% rise last year.
After Bloomberg’s report on Tuesday, shares of Paris-based EssilorLuxottica reversed losses, advancing as much as 2%. Meta slipped 1% in the US.
Google, Apple
The smart-glasses market has drawn interest from global technology groups as advances in AI, battery life and components make lighter, non-immersive wearables more practical.
Meta has the early lead with an estimated 73% global market share in the first half of 2025, according to Counterpoint. The researcher forecasts over 60% compound annual growth for the category through 2029. Yet competition is rising.
Last May, Alphabet Inc.’s Google formed a smart-glasses partnership with the eyewear division of Gucci owner Kering SA, while Apple Inc. has redirected resources toward AI-powered glasses after scaling back work on its Vision Pro headset. Chinese groups including Xiaomi Corp. and Huawei Technologies have also rolled out smart glasses as companies test consumer demand for AI-enabled wearables.
Meta sees smart glasses as a key way to deliver its AI services as it races with tech heavyweights like Alphabet and OpenAI to dominate the next generation of technology.
The tech industry’s push into smart glasses dovetails with EssilorLuxottica Chief Executive Officer Francesco Milleri’s strategy to expand in wearables and medical technology while preserving its dominance in traditional eyewear, he said in an interview in October. He foresees smart glasses potentially replacing smartphones over time.
Yet a steeper production ramp would also create challenges for EssilorLuxottica, as it balances growth with the cost of preparing its factories for the push.
Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses are expected to generate substantially lower gross margins than EssilorLuxottica’s broader product line, according to analysts at RBC Capital Markets. Higher revenue and improved component costs will likely mitigate some of these strains as volume rises, they said.
Analysts are expected to ask EssilorLuxottica about its output plans with Meta when the French-Italian group reports annual results in the first half of February.
The companies have closely guarded specific figures on Ray-Ban Meta sales — EssilorLuxottica executives said in February 2025 that they had delivered about 2 million units of the Ray-Ban Meta frames since late 2023.
Chief Financial Officer Stefano Grassi said in an October conference call that he expected to reach the capacity goal of 10 million units earlier than the original end-of-2026 target, without specifying further. He added that EssilorLuxottica has “the capability to do it in-house or outsource.”
–With assistance from Kurt Wagner.
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