MIJ Expands into Semiconductor and Defense Sectors Based on Its Tinnitus Management Platform

https://www.fieldnews.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=22270

Leveraging its own fabless design capabilities, the company develops the “PotatoPi” AI edge board
Plans to accelerate global expansion of the tinnitus management device “ETEREO TC Square”

Provided by = MIJ Co., Ltd.

[Field News = Reporter Seungcheol Lee] MIJ, a health-tech company headquartered in Chuncheon, announced on the 13th that it is emerging as a global healthcare platform company based on “Physical AI,” expanding its business areas from its tinnitus management platform into semiconductors and defense.

MIJ is leading the tinnitus (tinnitus) treatment field through its tinnitus management platform “ETEREOCARE” and its dedicated bone-conduction headset “ETEREO TC Square.”

The product adheres to the mastoid behind the ear, reducing the burden on the ear and enabling long-term wear, while providing personalized tinnitus adaptive sounds based on the user’s hearing data. The management system, linked with a dedicated web platform, enables both treatment adherence and data-based personalized diagnostics.

The company plans to complete FDA approval by 2026 and release a global version, and is also preparing a next-generation model incorporating AI algorithms as well as hearing management solutions for military personnel.

Alongside its medical device business, MIJ is nurturing semiconductor IP/FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array) solutions as its second growth engine, based on its own fabless design capabilities.

Its in-house research lab holds 181 IP cores—covering high-speed interfaces, audio/video processing, and communication protocols—and plans to begin IP licensing sales and commercialization of FPGA modules and boards starting in 2025.

With product lines including FPGA modules for medical imaging and military communication equipment, sensor-interface SoMs (development boards) for bio and IoT devices, AI edge cards, and embedded SoCs for encrypted communication, the company is establishing itself as a convergence technology firm spanning healthcare and defense.

The recently unveiled AI edge platform “PotatoPi” is an FPGA-based board compatible with the Raspberry Pi form factor, equipped with IP cores optimized for AI/ML computation.

It can be widely applied from educational uses to industrial embedded systems, and MIJ is pursuing the popularization of AI edge technology by building a global open-source ecosystem and distributing FPGA learning kits.

MIJ is also strengthening its digital healthcare pipeline through the development of a smart hearing-assist device. The company plans to release a portable hearing-assist device combining AI signal processing and app connectivity to the OTC (over-the-counter) market next year, at a reasonable price to increase accessibility.

In the diagnostics field, the company is developing a bio-semiconductor POCT (point-of-care testing) solution that combines semiconductor technology with biosensing.

It is currently researching a portable device that can measure glycated albumin (GA) using a silicon-wafer-based biosensor SoC, aiming for technology that can check blood-glucose control status within minutes using a small amount of blood.

The company is developing this device to measure GA—which is more useful than HbA1c for short-term glucose control—with laboratory-level accuracy, enabling use in hospitals, pharmacies, and homes. MIJ plans prototype verification and clinical trials by 2025 and aims for market release in 2027.

MIJ’s convergence strategy is being carried out in alignment with Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province’s policies to foster the semiconductor, bio, and health industries, as well as support programs for defense SMEs by the Defense Venture Center.

In the defense sector, the company is advancing technological development by undertaking various defense projects, including embedded defense SoCs, hearing-protection solutions for military personnel, and AI/sensor-based training and diagnostic equipment such as “MedicBall.”

MIJ stated, “We will develop into a global healthcare platform based on ‘Physical AI’ by integrating continuous data generated from medical devices and semiconductor IP.”

It added, “We will expand the innovation that began with tinnitus management into smart hearing-assist devices, AI edge boards, point-of-care diagnostics, and defense, growing into a globally recognized healthcare–semiconductor convergence company.”

Reporter Seungcheol Lee press@fieldnews.kr

Source: Field News (http://www.fieldnews.kr)