Melpas Acquires World's First Ultra-High-Speed Wireless Chip Developer... 8000x Faster Than NFC '↑'

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunseok Yoo] Melpas announced on the 10th that it will acquire GLS, the world’s first company to develop ultra-high-speed wireless semiconductor chips.

GLS is a system semiconductor company that develops semiconductor chips for ultra-high-speed wireless communication in the 60GHz band. After developing the first ultra-high-speed proximity wireless communication standard chip (Zing1.0), it recently succeeded in advancing to Zing2.0, gaining attention as a venture company in the ultra-high-speed wireless communication field. It was previously selected for the Ministry of SMEs and Startups’ Big3 innovation startup package and the ‘SoBuJang Startup 100’.

A company official said, “Melpas, aiming to enter the top class in the ultra-high-speed wireless charging sector, will instantly possess global top-class capabilities in the ultra-high-speed wireless communication field through this acquisition, enabling us to actively respond to customer demands for innovative products.”

Zing technology was developed by the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) and was finally approved as an IEEE international standard in 2017. It boasts a transmission speed of 3.5Gbps, which is 8,000 times faster than the existing wireless technology NFC, along with low power consumption.

GLS received the Zing technology from ETRI and, through additional research, developed and successfully mass-produced 'Zing2.0', which improved transmission speed. Zing2.0 transmits at speeds up to 9Gbps, enabling wireless transmission of uncompressed video instead of wired cables on smartphones or ultra-high-resolution TVs. It also prevents errors caused by data compression.

The company stated that it plans to produce improved versions of Zing2.0 by June next year and supply them to companies L and S. GLS holds a total of 61 intellectual property rights, including 15 registered patents, 28 patent applications, and 18 technology transfer patents. Since its establishment in 2017, it has continuously received investments from multiple institutional investors such as the Small and Medium Business Corporation, Korea Asset Investment Securities, and Korea Venture Investment.

A company official said, “Based on GLS’s innovative technology and Melpas’s proven mass production capability and customer trust, we will start mass production of the product early to secure a stable growth engine,” adding, “We plan to expand our business area into autonomous driving fields such as wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay for automobiles in the future.”