Nordic Semiconductor (CEO Choi Soo-chul of the Korea branch) is expanding its market by internalizing memory technology optimized for ultra-low-power wireless IoT devices.


Nordic Semiconductor announced on the 13th that it has agreed to acquire Mobile Semiconductor, a privately held US company that possesses highly optimized embedded memory technology for microcontrollers (MCUs) and systems-on-chips (SoCs).

Mobile Semiconductor offers cutting-edge, ultra-low-power, Static RAM (SRAM) memory technology optimized for a variety of MCUs and SoCs, with a proven supply track record in the market.

Nordic Semiconductor's nRF52® and nRF53® series SoCs and nRF91® series System-in-Package (SiP) devices also use Mobile Semiconductor's memory technology.

“We are very pleased to have a world-class mobile semiconductor team, recognized as an industry leader in optimized low-voltage embedded SRAM design, join Nordic,” says Svein-Egil Nielsen, Nordic’s CTO and Senior Vice President of R&D and Strategy. “We have enjoyed a close collaboration for many years. From a technical perspective, Mobile Semiconductor's SRAM has been a key differentiator for Nordic's Bluetooth and cellular IoT product lines. Therefore, the opportunity to acquire this valuable expertise made the acquisition a natural choice."

“Ultra-low-power operation is a critical sustainability requirement for IoT,” adds Kjetil Holstad, Nordic’s Senior Vice President of Product Management. “Portable and remote IoT applications must run for years on small batteries to be environmentally and commercially relevant, so ultra-low-power operation is a critical element that forms the foundation of Nordic’s wireless IoT silicon.”

“However, as IoT applications continue to demand more functionality and higher performance, memory becomes an increasingly critical element in achieving ultra-low power,” says Holstad. “Nordic has been leveraging embedded SRAM technology from mobile semiconductors to achieve this for many years. Having this expertise will put Nordic in a strong position to develop highly optimized products going forward that will continue to maintain Nordic’s industry-leading performance-to-power advantage.”

“Customers benefit from technological advancements through the resources of a large company that can continuously invest in R&D,” said Cameron Fisher, CEO of Mobile Semiconductor. “Mobile Semiconductor has achieved growth that was possible as a private company, and now we decided that we needed to take our memory architecture technology to the next level,” he said. “Nordic Semiconductor’s leadership in providing low-power and low-leakage devices is a perfect fit for Mobile Semiconductor’s technology, and this acquisition will allow us to further expand our technology scope.”

The acquisition is expected to close in the third quarter of 2022, subject to U.S. government approval.