Fairchild confirms fabless MEMS market entry
Xsens is a private company that has specialized in 3D motion tracking systems based on MEMS inertial sensors. eeNews Europe reported the acquisition by Fairchild back in March 2014.
Mark Thompson, CEO of Fairchild, announced at a meeting held alongside the Global Semiconductor Alliance (GSA) Executive Forum in Munich that the company spent approximately $60 million to acquire Xens and its sensor fusion technologies. These will enable a number of context-awareness functions in mobile, industrial control and stabilization, health and fitness applications, as well as 3D character animation, the companies said.
Casper Peeters, co-founder and CEO of Xsens, said: "Xsens has the sensor and software skills. We make systems. Fairchild has the low-power MEMS capability." Xsens will operate as an independent subsidiary of Fairchild and will continue to be headquartered in Enschede, The Netherlands.
"Xsens algorithms embedded within hardware enable very low power inertial MEMS. That’s going to come out later this year," said Vijay Ullal, president and COO of Fairchild. Ullal said Fairchild has already developed a six-degrees of freedom accelerometer-gyroscope and that it was getting the MEMS part made in a foundry.
"We’re not intending to compete head-on with the likes of STMicroelectronics and InvenSense. They have their markets in mobile phones and tablets. We will go into markets where low power is important; accuracy is important; support is important," said Ullal. Similarly Ullal said Fairchild was not interested in serving the automotive industry with motion-tracking MEMS at present.
In the past Xsens has developed motion-tracking products based upon MEMS inertial sensor technology that it has bought in from suppliers such as STMicroelectronics. It has provided systems for industrial applications and for body-motion tracking used in 3D character animation and sports and fitness studies. Xsens customers include Electronic Arts, NBC Universal, Daimler and other leading institutes and companies.
"There are plenty of markets beyond smartphones and tablets; especially in wearables and the Internet of Things," Ullal added stressing that Fairchild intends to focus on providing application-specific components, sub-systems and complete systems rather than standard MEMS components. "The value-add is in the applications knowledge and the algorithms deployed in hardware and software," he said.
Ullal said that by controlling both the hardware and software Fairchild is able to optimize the whole motion-tracking system for low power. "We could bring [MEMS] manufacturing in-house. Right now it’s in a foundry but that’s not important," he said. He added that Fairchild would buy-in RF, GPS and magnetometer components or die to complete motion-tracking systems as necessary.
Related links and articles:
News articles:
Fairchild faces $315 million charge for patent infringement
Fairchild acquires body motion capture firm Xsens
Xsens, STMicroelectronics team up on body tracking
Janusz Bryzek: The trillion-sensor man: Part 1
Janusz Bryzek: The trillion-sensor man: Part 2
STM, Movea team up for always-on motion processing
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