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MEMS gyro maker InvenSense files for IPO

After raising a total of $38 million in venture capital funding since the company’s founding in 2004, MEMS gyro maker InvenSense has filed for IPO this week.  The company’s main focus has been MEMS gyro sensors for consumer application segments such as console and portable video gaming devices, digital television and set-top box remote controls, handset and tablet devices, remote controlled toys and other household consumer and industrial devices.

InvenSense is reporting that it has shipped over 60 million units of their products.  The company’s net revenue was $7.8 million, $29.0 million and $79.6 million for fiscal years 2008, 2009 and 2010, respectively.  For fiscal year 2010, net income was $15.1 million and net cash provided by operating activities was $20.2 million.

MEMS for neuroscience research applications

by Paul Pyzowski, Guest Contributor

Most articles on MEMS related topics tend to cover large markets in automotive and consumer electronics, not the treatment of debilitating illnesses of the nervous system.  But even though the market for neurological applications today is small, MEMS and microfabrication technologies are helping neuroscience researchers in their quest to understand the workings of the brain, advancing knowledge in one of the most exciting fields of scientific endeavor today.  And what is more exciting, MEMS technologies are already being deployed in medical devices to treat injuries and diseases of the nervous system, with several products already in human clinical trials and more expected within the next twelve months.  Some of these products, quite literally, have neurosurgeons surgically implanting “MEMS on the brain”.

iPhone 4 carries bill of materials of $187.51, according to iSuppli

The iPhone 4’s design may be radically different -- but the strategy remains the same, with the latest member of the product line carrying a bill of materials (BOM) that should continue to generate high profit margins for Apple Inc., according to iSuppli.  The 16Gbyte version of the iPhone 4 carries a BOM of $187.51, based on a preliminary cost estimate derived from a physical teardown of the product.

Microstaq aims microfluidics at HVAC

by R. Colin Johnson
Contributing Editor, MEMS Investor Journal

Heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration (HVAC/R) today use bulky solenoid-controlled valves to manage the flow of refrigerants.  But Microstaq claims its MEMS based silicon expansion valve (SEV) is smaller and more accurate than both conventional valves including the most advanced pulse motor valves (PMVs) and thermostatic expansion valves (TXVs).

MEMS automotive sensors to recover in 2010

Following its toughest year in recent memory, the market for MEMS automotive sensors will rebound sharply in 2010, but continued high sales might lead to an overheated market that could push the industry back into depression, according to new research from iSuppli Corp.  Global shipments of automotive MEMS sensors are projected to reach 591.2 million units in 2010, up a resounding 17.8 percent from 502.0 million.