Pragmatic's flexible British RFID chip cooked up in Durham
Bendy NFC chip produced at British fab that was the first to offer industry-standard 300mm wafers.
A new built-in-Durham bendy chip has hit the market and is now rolling off the production line at Pragmatic Park - the UK’s first 300mm semiconductor fab.
Pragmatic Semiconductor Ltd has announced the launch of a new radio frequency identification (RFID), which flexes so it can be stuck to any surface.
It's called Pragmatic NFC Connect and is, specifically, a near-field communication (NFC) chip which can be scanned to perform a variety of tasks, including authenticating purchases, displaying product information on a smartphone, verifying authenticity or triggering interactive experiences.
The chip is being produced at Pragmatic Park - a rather lovely name for the British firm's headquarters at an industrial estate famed for little else but a "relatively large" fire at a nappy factory in 1991.
The fabrication plant sits near a little town called Meadowfield, which is two miles outside Durham and known for its quintessentially English summertime steam fair, harking back to the Victorian era when British engineering led the world.
We mention this because the nation is definitely not in the same position it was back then.
The quaint village of Meadowfield isn't exactly the sort of place you'd once have expected to see a fab producing 300mm chips - wafers that are the industry standard for high-volume semiconductor manufacturing.
So it's definitely good news to see the village of Meadowfield playing in a market with competitors from nations like the US, Taiwan and South Korea.
Pragmatic Park is capable of producing billions of chips per year using a sustainable fabrication process that consumes less energy and water and relies on fewer harmful chemicals than standard semiconductor manufacturing facilities, driving down its environmental impact.
David Moore, CEO of Pragmatic, said there is "tremendous market demand" for flexible RFID chips in sectors such as fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), which includes food and beverage, apparel, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics. Other applications include smart health and wellness devices, toys and games, and food freshness detection.
Sales in these market were traditionally constrained by cost, supply chain and sustainability challenges - which Pragmatic claims it has conquered.
It uses Pragmatic’s unique FlexIC (flexible integrated circuit) technology in an "ultra-thin, flexible form factor with a uniquely low carbon footprint".
“Pragmatic’s FlexIC technology sustainably bridges our physical and digital worlds to enable low carbon, low-cost edge and item-level intelligence at scale, where it simply wasn’t possible previously,” Moore said.
James Davey, SVP Sales, Business Development and Product Management, Pragmatic Semiconductor added: "NFC Connect conforms with ISO15693 and NFC Forum Type 5 industry standards, and is easily integrated into existing workflows, providing inlay, assembly and converter ecosystem partners with a unique opportunity to expand their product portfolios while addressing new market opportunities.
"With an industry-leading low carbon footprint and passively powered, it offers NFC-enabled iOS and Android smartphone compatibility, enabling use within existing reader infrastructure. It can be assembled onto single-sided NFC RFID antennas, giving our customers the ability to develop thinner, more cost-effective and more sustainable NFC solutions."
There are now high hopes for Britain's semiconductor sector, with Chancellor Rachel Reeves enjoying a rare break from her relentlessly bad headlines to visit fab in Wales that's Britain's biggest and recently landed a £250m investment from Vishay Intertechnology, one of the world's largest manufacturers of semiconductors.
Francisco Melo, President, Solutions Group at Avery Dennison, a global RFID giant and strategic investor in Pragmatic, said: "Innovation is the lifeblood of our industry. It is also key to realizing item-level intelligence at scale and extending unique item-level ID to new segments, such as FMCG. It’s exciting to see the launch of Pragmatic NFC Connect and to be part of this journey, I look forward to our continued strategic partnership enabling clients to pursue exciting new market opportunities."
Hector Gomez, VP of NFC Business Development at Tageos – a global RFID firms that is Pragmatic's ecosystem partner – said: “We celebrate the launch of Pragmatic NFC Connect and are delighted to explore how we can integrate the technology into our future portfolio. It is also further confirmation of our joint ambition and leadership in meeting the latest customer and market needs and in expanding and shaping the range and flexibility of new products and applications for RFID and NFC innovations."
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