Qualcomm set-out its latest move to secure a central position in the metaverse, pledging to pump up to $100 million into investments and grants to those creating foundational technologies and content experiences for the fledgling sector.

The chipmaker’s Snapdragon Metaverse Fund will make investments in companies related to the sector, while providing grants to developers creating extended reality (XR) experiences in areas including gaming, health, media, entertainment, education and enterprise.

Alongside XR-centric players, Qualcomm also plans to back businesses working on related AI and AR systems.

Its VC arm will control the investment element, while Qualcomm Technologies will allocate the grants from the fund. It did not offer a breakdown of the proportion of the $100 million given to each.

The fund is Qualcomm’s latest move as it seeks to grab a slice of the XR and metaverse field, having already launched various products aimed at the sector, a developer platform and dedicated R&D facility.

Qualcomm president and CEO Cristiano Amon stated it would back developers and companies of all sizes as they “push boundaries of what’s possible as we enter into this new generation of spatial computing”.

He added Qualcomm was the “ticket to the metaverse” with its platforms enabling consumers and enterprises to engage in the ecosystem.

It plans to open applications for a share of the pot in June.