U-blox

Last updated
u-blox Holding AG
Type Public company
SIX:  UBXN
Industry Semiconductors, Internet of Things (IoT)
Founded1997
Headquarters
Thalwil, canton of Zürich, Switzerland
Key people
  • Stephan Zizala (CEO)
  • André Müller (Chairman)
RevenueIncrease2.svg SFr  624 million (2021) [1]
Increase2.svg SFr 121.8 million (2021) [1]
Increase2.svg SFr 101.8 million (2021) [1]
Number of employees
1,300 (2023) [2]
Website www.u-blox.com

u-blox is a Swiss company that creates wireless semiconductors and modules for consumer, automotive and industrial markets. They operate as a fabless IC and design house. The company is listed at the Swiss Stock Exchange (SIX:UBXN) and has offices in the US, Singapore, China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, India, Pakistan, Australia, Ireland, the UK, Belgium, Germany, Sweden, Finland, Italy and Greece.

Contents

History

u-blox is a spin-off of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH) [3] [4] and was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in Thalwil, Switzerland. Thomas Seiler served as chief executive officer of u-blox AG from 2002 until his retirement on Dec 31, 2022. Stephan Zizala, who joined the company in 2022, succeeded Seiler. [5]

In 2016, u-blox opened a new office in Taipei, Taiwan. [6]

Products and technology

u-blox provides starter kits which allow quick prototyping of variety of applications for the Internet of Things. [7] It develops and sells chips and modules that support global navigation satellite systems (GNSS), including receivers for GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, BeiDou and QZSS. [8] The wireless range consists of GSM-, UMTS- and CDMA2000 and LTE modules, as well as Bluetooth- and WiFi-modules. All these products enable the delivery of complete systems for location-based services and M2M applications (machine-to-machine communication) in the Internet of Things, that rely on the convergence of 2G/3G/4G, Bluetooth-, Wi-Fi technology and satellite navigation. [9] A collaboration to create GNSS receiver that work globally was started between u-blox, SoftBank and ALES in 2021. [10] One year later, in 2022, u-blox released the at the time smallest LTE Cat 4 Module LARA-L6. [11]

Acquisitions

They acquired a dozen companies after their IPO in 2007, after acquiring connectblue [12] in 2014 and Lesswire in 2015 [13] they acquired Rigado's module business in 2019. [14] In 2020, u-blox acquired Thingstream. [15] In 2021, u-blox AG acquired Sapcorda Services GmbH, a provider of high precision GNSS (global navigation satellite system) services. [16] and Naventik GmbH, a German company specializing in the development of safe positioning solutions for autonomous driving. [17]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wireless network</span> Computer network not fully connected by cables

A wireless network is a computer network that uses wireless data connections between network nodes. Wireless networking allows homes, telecommunications networks and business installations to avoid the costly process of introducing cables into a building, or as a connection between various equipment locations. Admin telecommunications networks are generally implemented and administered using radio communication. This implementation takes place at the physical level (layer) of the OSI model network structure.

4G is the fourth generation of broadband cellular network technology, succeeding 3G and preceding 5G. A 4G system must provide capabilities defined by ITU in IMT Advanced. Potential and current applications include amended mobile web access, IP telephony, gaming services, high-definition mobile TV, video conferencing, and 3D television.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nordic Semiconductor</span>

Nordic Semiconductor ASA was founded in 1983 and is a Norwegian fabless technology company with its headquarters in Trondheim, Norway. The company specializes in designing ultra-low-power wireless communication semiconductors and supporting software for engineers developing and manufacturing Internet of Things (IoT) products.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">OnStar</span> Subsidiary of General Motors

OnStar Corporation is a subsidiary of General Motors that provides subscription-based communications, in-vehicle security, emergency services, turn-by-turn navigation, and remote diagnostics systems throughout the United States, Canada, China, Mexico, Europe, Brazil, Colombia, Argentina and the Gulf Cooperation Council countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Assisted GNSS</span> System to improve the time-to-first-fix of a GNSS receiver

Assisted GNSS (A-GNSS) is a GNSS augmentation system that often significantly improves the startup performance—i.e., time-to-first-fix (TTFF)—of a global navigation satellite system (GNSS). A-GNSS works by providing the necessary data to the device via a radio network instead of the slow satellite link, essentially "warming up" the receiver for a fix. When applied to GPS, it is known as assisted GPS or augmented GPS. Other local names include A-GANSS for Galileo and A-Beidou for BeiDou.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KT Corporation</span> South Korean telecommunication service provider

KT Corporation, formerly Korea Telecom, is a South Korean telecommunications company. KT is the second-largest wireless carrier in South Korea, with 16.493 million subscribers as of Q4 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Telit Cinterion</span> Internet of things communications company

Telit Cinterion is an Internet of Things (IoT) Enabler company headquartered in Irvine, California, United States. It is a privately held company with key operations in the US, Brazil, Italy, Israel, and Korea.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SiRF</span>

SiRF Technology, Inc. was a pioneer in the commercial use of GPS technology for consumer applications. The company was founded in 1995 and was headquartered in San Jose, California. Notable and founding members included Sanjai Kohli, Dado Banatao, and Kanwar Chadha. The company was acquired by British firm CSR plc in 2009, who were in turn subsequently acquired by American company Qualcomm on 13 August 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sierra Wireless</span>

Sierra Wireless is a Canadian multinational wireless communications equipment designer, manufacturer and services provider headquartered in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada. It also maintains offices and operations in the United States, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, India, France, Australia and New Zealand.

The Multi Media Interface (MMI) system is an in-car user interface media system developed by Audi, and was launched at the 2001 Frankfurt Motor Show on the Audi Avantissimo concept car. Production MMI was introduced in the second generation Audi A8 D3 in late 2002 and implemented in majority of its latest series of automobiles.

A wide variety of different wireless data technologies exist, some in direct competition with one another, others designed for specific applications. Wireless technologies can be evaluated by a variety of different metrics of which some are described in this entry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MediaTek</span> Taiwanese fabless semiconductor company

MediaTek Inc. is a Taiwanese fabless semiconductor company that provides chips for wireless communications, high-definition television, handheld mobile devices like smartphones and tablet computers, navigation systems, consumer multimedia products and digital subscriber line services as well as optical disc drives.

ST-Ericsson was a multinational manufacturer of wireless products and semiconductors, supplying to mobile device manufacturers. ST-Ericsson was a 50/50 joint venture of Ericsson and STMicroelectronics established on 3 February 2009 and dissolved 2 August 2013. Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, it was a fabless company, outsourcing semiconductor manufacturing to foundry companies.

Bluegiga Technologies Ltd. known as Bluegiga, is a Finnish wireless technology company based in Espoo, Finland. Founded in 2000, it has since expanded its offices to Atlanta in USA and Hong Kong. Bluegiga has been a member of the Bluetooth Special Interest Group since it was established and joined Continua Health Alliance in Spring 2008. The company joined Wi-Fi Alliance in the beginning of 2012.

A telematic control unit (TCU) in the automobile industry is the embedded system on board a vehicle that wirelessly connects the vehicle to cloud services or other vehicles via V2X standards over a cellular network. The TCU collects telemetry data from the vehicle, such as position, speed, engine data, connectivity quality, etc., from various sub-systems over data and control busses. It may also provide in-vehicle connectivity via Wifi and Bluetooth and implements the eCall function when applicable.

Sequans Communications is a fabless semiconductor company that designs, develops, and markets integrated circuits ("chips") and modules for 4G and 5G cellular IoT devices. The company is based in Paris, France with offices in the United States, United Kingdom, Israel, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea, Finland and China. The company was founded as a société anonyme in October 2003 by Georges Karam. It originally focused on the WiMAX market and expanded to the LTE market in 2009, dropping WiMAX altogether in 2011. Today the company develops and delivers only LTE chips and modules for the global 5G/4G cellular IoT market. Sequans was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in April 2011. Karam is the company's CEO.

Hutchison 3G UK Limited, trading as Three UK, is a British telecommunications and internet service provider based in Reading, England. It is a subsidiary of CK Hutchison Holdings, operating under the global Three brand. Three is the fourth-largest mobile network operator in the United Kingdom, with about 10.3 million subscribers as of May 2023.

CubETH is a Swiss satellite project. As of 2015, it is being developed by several Swiss academic and industrial partners. The spacecraft is a single unit CubeSat and therefore 10 x 10 x 10 cm (3.9 x 3.9 x 3.9 in) in size. Its main goal is to prove the feasibility of attitude and orbit determination with low cost commercial off-the-shelf GNSS-receivers.

Narrowband Internet of things (NB-IoT) is a low-power wide-area network (LPWAN) radio technology standard developed by 3GPP for cellular network devices and services. The specification was frozen in 3GPP Release 13, in June 2016. Other 3GPP IoT technologies include eMTC and EC-GSM-IoT.

The Samsung Galaxy A20s is an entry level smartphone developed by Samsung Electronics announced on September 23, 2019, and released to the general public on October 5, 2019. It was discontinued on January 16, 2023.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "u-blox Annual Report 2022".
  2. ↑ "Key figures".
  3. ↑ Jain, Sakshi (2023-06-13). "The core idea behind u-blox has always been to explore new business opportunities using module-based solutions with third-party chips- Andreas Thiel". ELE Times. Retrieved 2023-11-17.
  4. ↑ "Well positioned with GPS technology". www.ethlife.ethz.ch. Retrieved 2023-11-17.
  5. ↑ "u-blox announces CEO transition effective 1 January 2023". u-blox. 24 May 2022. Retrieved 2023-04-16.
  6. ↑ "u-blox Taiwan expands into new Taipei offices". iot-now.com. 2016-05-18. Retrieved 2023-12-19.
  7. ↑ "u-blox C027 | Mbed". os.mbed.com. Retrieved 2021-04-09.
  8. ↑ "Chinese car maker chose u-blox GNSS receiver". electronicsweekly.com. 2021-01-14. Retrieved 2023-12-14.
  9. ↑ "U-blox Sharpens Focus on Connected Car Market". insideunmannedsystems.com. 2015-12-09. Retrieved 2023-12-14.
  10. ↑ "SoftBank Corp. and u-blox to Collaborate on Global GNSS Augmentation Services". insidegnss.com. 2021-11-19. Retrieved 2023-12-14.
  11. ↑ "Smallest LTE Cat 4 Module with Global Coverage and 2G/3G Fallback". nasdaq.com. 2022-05-24. Retrieved 2023-12-14.
  12. ↑ "u-blox acquires connectBlue; adds Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity" (PDF). www.connectblue.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 June 2016. Retrieved 2021-04-09.
  13. ↑ "u-blox acquires automotive short range modules business from Lesswire". u-blox. 2014-12-02. Retrieved 2021-04-09.
  14. ↑ u-blox acquired Rigado's Bluetooth Modules Business
  15. ↑ "Thingstream acquired by u-blox". u-blox. April 2020.
  16. ↑ "u-blox acquires full ownership in Sapcorda Joint Venture". u-blox. 18 March 2021.
  17. ↑ "u-blox and Naventik". itsax.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.