Zarlink Invests in Radio Chips for Medical Device Applications

Until recently, 60% of Zarlink Semiconductor's sales were devoted to communication chips. But no longer. According to a Reuters Canada article, Zarlink (Ottawa, ON, Canada) is moving further into the medical device market, investing in ultra-low-power, high-frequency radio chips.Medical devices that already incorporate the company's transmitter chips include Given Imaging's Pillcam and St. Jude Medical's pacemakers. In addition, Zarlink and its customers are developing drug pump systems for the treatment of diabetes and deep brain stimulation devices for treating a range of illnesses, such as Parkinson's disease, tremors, depression, and epilepsy.The firm is reportedly spending about 30% of its R&D budget on chips for medical devices, a market that Zarlink CEO Kirk Mandy expects to grow as the population ages. "We have a revenue run rate in the $30 plus million a year range today," he told Reuters. "I can see that business growing to around $100 million over the next three, four years." The market for low-power radios in the medical industry is growing, Mandy adds, and will become a multibillion market over the next five years.Read more about Zarlink and its work, including its contribution to an in-body microgenerator able to harvest energy from a human heartbeat to power implants.