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mCube

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
mCube
IndustrySemiconductor
Founded2009
FounderCharles Young
HeadquartersSan Jose, California
Key people
Ben Lee (CEO)
Steve Smith (CFO)
Vijay Nadkarni(CTO)
ProductsMEMS
Websitehttps://www.movella.com/

mCube is a fabless semiconductor company founded in 2009 and headquartered in San Jose, California, and has offices at multiple locations in Hsinchu, Taipei, Shanghai, and Shenzhen. It manufactures microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) motion sensors.[1]

History

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mCube was founded by Charles Yang and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers in 2009. Led by Ben Lee, President and CEO, mCube is privately held and backed by venture and strategic partner investors including DAG Ventures, iD Ventures America, Keystone Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, Korea Investment Partners, MediaTek, and SK Telecom (China) Ventures, receiving $37M in its Series C round of funding in 2014.[2]

In November 2017, mCube completed the acquisition of Xsens, a company that specializes in 3D motion tracking products and technology, from ON Semiconductor. Xsens products are used in industrial applications, such as autonomous vehicles, professional drones, smart farming, and robotics. Xsens has to retainers brand name and will continue to operate from its current base in Enschede, The Netherlands as a stand-alone business unit of mCube.[3]

In 2018, mCube's MC3672 was selected as a CES Innovation Award Honoree in the Embedded Technologies category.[4][5]

On 22 September 2020, mCube announced the acquisition of Kinduct, a Halifax, Nova Scotia based company that specializes in the management of health and athlete data.[6] mCube was rebranded as Movella on 27 September 2021.[7][8]

Technology

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Yole Développement confirmed mCube's monolithic single-chip MEMS+ASIC product as the world's smallest accelerometer in March 2014. With over 180 patents filed to date, mCube integrates a MEMS sensor with ASICs onto a single die using standard CMOS processes. This approach enables sensors to be easily manufactured and designed for a broad range of applications. Single-chip MEMS+ASIC devices are cost-effective, consume little power, and feature high performance.[9] These advancements make it possible to place one or more motion sensors onto nearly any object or device. In some cases, these MEMS motion sensors can be embedded directly onto a device without requiring a package, which saves considerable cost and space. mCube motion sensors have been adopted in a range of smartphone and tablet reference designs and are featured on the approved vendor lists of leading chip-set partners.[10][11]

Products

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mCube offers accelerometer, magnetometer, and software-based gyroscope products, of which some provide 9 degrees of freedom (DoF).[12] As of 2019, mCube has shipped more than 500 million accelerometers.[13] mCube’s monolithic MEMS accelerometers enjoy substantial size, cost, power, and performance advantages over the multi-chip modules from competing MEMS sensor manufacturers. mCube and Xsens are now jointly developing new system solutions[buzzword] aimed at existing and new customers in the consumer, industrial, medical, sports science, autonomous vehicle, and entertainment industries.[3]

References

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  1. ^ "The Internet Of Moving Things | Ideas". Smart Design. Retrieved 2022-05-01.
  2. ^ "mCube Closes $37M Series C Financing Round". www.businesswire.com. 2014-06-25. Retrieved 2023-10-11.
  3. ^ a b "mCube acquires Xsens in drive to lead rapidly growing market for motion-sensing systems and applications". www.movella.com. Retrieved 2023-10-11.
  4. ^ "MEMS Sensor Startup mCube Buys Xsens". EETimes. 2017-10-11. Retrieved 2023-10-12.
  5. ^ Taranovich, Steve (2017-11-12). "mCube motion tracking innovation". EDN. Retrieved 2023-10-13.
  6. ^ "mCube Acquires Kinduct to Expand SaaS Offering | Kennispark Twente". kennispark.nl. 2020-09-22. Retrieved 2024-03-13.
  7. ^ "mCube Rebrands as Movella - a global provider of innovative solutions in sensing, capturing, and analyzing movement data". PRWeb. 2021-09-27. Retrieved 2024-03-13.
  8. ^ "mCube Rebrands as Movella | Movella | Bringing Meaning To Movement". www.movella.com. 2021-09-27. Retrieved 2024-03-13.
  9. ^ Mount, Richard (2022-12-06). "Choosing between ASIC, SoC and SiP technologies". eeNews Europe. Retrieved 2023-10-11.
  10. ^ "Tiny motion sensors could be integrated into clothes". Dezeen. 2014-08-28. Retrieved 2023-10-11.
  11. ^ "A New Chip Could Add Motion Sensing to Clothing". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved 2023-10-11.
  12. ^ "mCube Unveils World's Smallest eCompass and iGyro Sensors Featuring Industry's Lowest Power Consumption". eejournal.com. 2014-11-06. Retrieved 2024-04-04.
  13. ^ "mCube Partners with Meridian Technical Sales". businessinsider.com. 2019-01-31. Retrieved 2024-04-04.
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