TDK to Acquire UC Davis Professor David Horsley's Chirp Microsystems

Via Businesswire

TDK Corporation announced that it has reached an agreement with Chirp Microsystems, Inc. (Headquarters: Berkeley California U.S., hereinafter “Chirp”), a pioneer in high-performance ultrasonic sensing, in which Chirp becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of TDK. TDK expects to close the acquisition within the coming days.

Chirp is engaged in high-performance ultrasonic sensors featuring smaller sizes and lower power consumption compared with existing sensors. Chirp’s solutions are expected to find broader applications, such as augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), in addition to areas such as smartphones, automobiles, industrial machinery and other ICT applications.

Chirp solutions enable extremely precise sensing, ranging from several centimeters to several meters, sensing the distance to an object and expanding the way users can operate with AR and VR, detect the proximity distance when using smartphones, and track the variance between a vehicle and obstacles when driving. In addition, the sensor operates with low power consumption and enables products to be reduced in size, providing an outstanding sensor solution that is extremely easy for consumers to use. Furthermore, the addition of Chirp’s ultrasonic sensor solutions in combination to the existing fingerprint sensors offered by TDK subsidiary InvenSense, will significantly expand TDK’s ultrasonic sensor solutions.

About Chirp Microsystems

Chirp Microsystems mission is to bring ultrasonic sensing to everyday products. Founded in 2013 based on pioneering research performed at the University of California, Chirp’s piezoelectric MEMS ultrasonic transducers offer long range and low power sensing capabilities in a micro-scale package, enabling products to accurately perceive absolute position in the three-dimensional world in which we live. Combined with Chirp’s embedded software library, these sensors advance user experiences with VR/AR, mobile, wearables, robotics, drones and occupancy detection. For more information, please visit: http://www.chirpmicro.com.

Read the press release in its entirety.