Boosting Bluetooth Silicon Labs expands its R&D center in Espoo, Finland
American hi-tech powerhouse Silicon Labs (NASDAQ: SLAB) is betting heavily on Finnish expertise. The world-leading IoT provider has established a cutting-edge R&D expertise center in Espoo that features some of the best Bluetooth know-how in the world. As demand for advanced IoT solutions rapidly increases, the considerable Finnish capabilities become more and more important for Silicon Labs.
Case study 23.11.2020
The roots of local Bluetooth prowess lie with Bluegiga Technologies, a pioneering Finnish company founded in 2001. In 2015, Bluegiga was purchased by Silicon Labs. Since then, the legacy of Bluegiga has created significant success for Silicon Labs in the highly competitive global Bluetooth markets, says Tom Nordman from Silicon Labs Finland.
“In five years, we’ve tripled our Bluetooth revenue and gone from a company of 30 people to almost 50 experts,” Nordman explains.
In 2021, the Espoo operation is looking to add as many as ten professionals. “We need both software and hardware experts, and especially embedded software developers for IoT.”
Bluetooth Redefined
According to Nordman, there are two exciting new Bluetooth standards, parallel the typically known Bluetooth point-to-point connections, that are really heating up the market. First of all, there is the Bluetooth Mesh network where various nodes communicate with each other for a smoother flow of information.
“In Espoo, we have world-leading expertise in Bluetooth Mesh applications,” says Nordman.
The other standard is Indoor Positioning, Bluetooth Angle of Arrival and Departure, which offers intriguing possibilities for development as well – ranging from locating a desired product to simply finding your own way in a store.
“IoT is really the gamechanger driving this change. We realized about five years ago that pretty soon every device can be connected to IoT – and that Bluetooth is the most cost and power effective way of doing this.” So whether you’re talking about, say, portable medical equipment or consumer electronics, they’re likely to feature a Bluetooth chip – and this trend is only intensifying.
Ecosystem Excellence
Petra Söderling from Invest in Finland USA is pleased to see Silicon Labs expand in Finland. Recently, Invest in Finland has supported Silicon Labs in their internal decision-making process regarding the expansion.
“Both the IoT and chip design ecosystems and competences are very strong in Finland, and this expansion move is another proof point for this,” she says.
Söderling points out that Finland has a long history in radio technologies and embedded systems design. “In fact, Bluetooth driven IoT solutions, coupled with 5G and 6G telecommunications networks, as well as Machine Learning based Data Analytics, form a solid core in our innovation ecosystems.”
According to Söderling, Silicon Labs’ expansion in Espoo clearly demonstrates Finland’s attractiveness to US businesses as a uniquely optimized location for international research, development and product design. Tom Nordman agrees with this assessment:
“We have the rare type of expertise that we’re often able to help out Silicon Labs’ HQ in Austin, Texas, with any issues they might have with regards to Bluetooth,” he says.
Eye on the Elite
According to Nordman, American companies looking for “Silicon Valley level” hi-tech excellence do wisely when they consider Finland for a base of operations.
“When you look at the countries with top talent around the world from a cost-effectiveness perspective, Finland is in a very select group,” he believes. In addition to nurturing and attracting talent, Finland has a way of hanging on to those high-performers, too.
“The talent retention in our Espoo operation is very high.”