Infineon Technologies Joins FiRa™ Consortium as Contributor Member

Munich, Germany, November 17, 2021 - Infineon Technologies AG has joined the FiRa™ Alliance as a Contributor-level member to support the expansion of the UWB ecosystem. FiRa is committed to the development and widespread dissemination of ultra-wideband (UWB) technology to ensure fine ranging and positioning capabilities in a wide range of applications. This enables UWB devices to accurately and securely determine the location of other devices and easily connect to infrastructure in the Internet of Things (IoT), industrial, consumer and smartphone sectors. On this basis, UWB-based products have also been deployed in car access systems. Infineon will use its expertise in security, connectivity and microcontrollers to help the alliance achieve its goals.

"As a leader in secure connected systems, Infineon Technologies sees the huge potential of UWB capabilities for secure fine ranging and positioning. We are actively involved in standardization efforts and are committed to using smart and trusted solutions to ensure secure transactions and identities," said Bjoern Scharfen, Vice President Digital Security and Identity at Infineon Technologies. "UWB has a huge potential to enhance Infineon's security, connectivity and computing services. As such, this technology is a strong support for our vision of connecting the physical and digital worlds."

Charlie Zhang, Chairman of the FiRa Consortium Board and Senior Vice President of Engineering at Samsung Research America, said: "FiRa members and their individual representatives work closely together to create a new interoperable ecosystem based on the use of UWB technology. The addition of Infineon as a Contributor member will bring additional expertise to the Consortium, which will bring us new perspectives and help the Consortium take the next step in its development process."

UWB has been gaining momentum across the industry steadily over the past year, and the market is expected to grow significantly, reaching more than 1 billion devices by 2025, according to ABI Research. The technology is already deployed in many leading smartphone platforms as well as in certain car access solutions, and is expected to make inroads in the industrial, IoT, and consumer sectors. UWB is able to locate devices in real time, within a few centimeters, with very low latency, even in crowded environments with multiple devices. With UWB's built-in security and high robustness, the technology offers a wide range of potential use cases across the industry.

With the acquisition of Cypress in 2020, Infineon has gained significant expertise in connectivity (Wi-Fi®, Bluetooth®) and microcontrollers. As a market leader in automotive, payment, identification and embedded security, Infineon is expected to further enable its customers and partners’ products based on its intelligent and trusted solutions by leveraging UWB’s secure ranging technology. However, the adoption of this technology depends heavily on availability and ease of implementation, which makes standardization key to UWB’s success. Therefore, Infineon will actively promote progress in all relevant markets and devices in the FiRa Alliance.