U-blox

u-blox Holding AG
Company typePublic company
SIX: UBXN
IndustrySemiconductors, Internet of Things (IoT)
Founded1997
Headquarters
Thalwil, canton of Zürich, Switzerland
Key people
  • Stephan Zizala (CEO)
  • André Müller (Chairman)
RevenueIncrease SFr 624 million (2021)[1]
Increase SFr 121.8 million (2021)[1]
Increase SFr 101.8 million (2021)[1]
Number of employees
1,300 (2023)[2]
Websitewww.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 (China), Korea, Japan, India, Pakistan, Australia, Ireland, the UK, Belgium, Germany, Sweden, Finland, Italy and Greece.

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] The company launched a dual-band GNSS module in 2023 that uses the L1 as well as the L5 GPS frequency bands.[12] In 2024 u-blox released the LEXI-R10, which was, according to the company, the smallest LTE Cat 1bis module at time of launch.[13][14]

Acquisitions

They acquired a dozen companies after their IPO in 2007, after acquiring connectblue[15] in 2014 and Lesswire in 2015 [16] they acquired Rigado's module business in 2019.[17] In 2020, u-blox acquired Thingstream.[18] In 2021, u-blox AG acquired Sapcorda Services GmbH, a provider of high precision GNSS (global navigation satellite system) services.[19] and Naventik GmbH, a German company specializing in the development of safe positioning solutions for autonomous driving.[20]

References

  1. ^ a b c "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 Introduces F10 Dual-Band GNSS Platform for Superior Urban Positioning Accuracy". insidegnss.com. 2024-03-20. Retrieved 2024-08-14.
  13. ^ "Universally Applicable 4G Cellular Modules in Compact Form Factor Target IoT Usage". epdtonthenet.net. 2024-06-23. Retrieved 2024-08-14.
  14. ^ "u-blox launches new LTE Cat 1bis cellular modules". electronicspecifier.com. 2024-06-18. Retrieved 2024-08-14.
  15. ^ "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.
  16. ^ "u-blox acquires automotive short range modules business from Lesswire". u-blox. 2014-12-02. Retrieved 2021-04-09.
  17. ^ u-blox acquired Rigado's Bluetooth Modules Business
  18. ^ "Thingstream acquired by u-blox". u-blox. April 2020.
  19. ^ "u-blox acquires full ownership in Sapcorda Joint Venture". u-blox. 18 March 2021.
  20. ^ "u-blox and Naventik". itsax.
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