MIJ Expands Its Healthcare Platform with “Physical AI”… From Tinnitus Management to Semiconductors and Defense

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MIJ Co., Ltd., headquartered in Chuncheon, is gaining attention in the tinnitus treatment field through its tinnitus management platform “ETEREOCARE” and its dedicated headset “ETEREO TC Square.”

At the same time, based on its own fabless design capabilities, the company is expanding its business areas into healthcare, diagnostics, and defense, with the AI edge board “PotatoPi” and medical device, FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array), and SoC solutions as its two main pillars. This year, the company participated as a partner company in the Defense Venture Center, expanding its defense network, and through R&D investment, it is also preparing smart hearing aids and bio-semiconductor POCT (Point-of-Care Testing) solutions.

MIJ began its medical device business targeting the tinnitus market, experienced by 30% of the world’s population due to aging and increased noise exposure. Its main product, ETEREO TC Square, is a bone-conduction headset that adheres to the mastoid (the bone behind the ear), reducing ear burden and increasing long-term wearability and treatment adherence. The dedicated headset and management web platform are linked to manage users’ hearing data and provide personalized tinnitus adaptive sounds. The company plans to complete FDA approval by 2026 to release a global version and expand its product lineup with next-generation models based on AI algorithms and hearing-management solutions for military personnel.

MIJ was also included in the “Top 40 Korean Healthcare Innovation Companies” selected by Fortune Korea in July 2025, raising expectations for global market potential. This selection of companies expected to enter the U.S. market demonstrates international interest in the global potential of TC Square and MIJ’s technological capabilities.

Along with medical devices, the company is fostering semiconductor IP/FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array) solutions as its second growth engine. Based on 181 IP cores owned by its in-house research lab (high-speed interfaces, audio/video processing, AD/DA, communication protocols, etc.), the company plans to begin selling individual IP licenses and commercializing FPGA modules/boards starting in 2025. It is preparing FPGA modules for video/audio processing for medical imaging and military communication equipment, sensor-interface SoMs (development boards) for bio/IoT devices, AI edge cards for real-time processing of medical data, and embedded defense-grade SoCs equipped with encrypted communication processing. This roadmap also aligns with Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province’s policy direction for semiconductor and defense strategic industries.

The new product “PotatoPi” is an FPGA-based AI edge platform compatible with the Raspberry Pi form factor, targeting everything from education and maker groups to industrial embedded markets. Equipped with IP cores optimized for AI/ML computation and high-speed interfaces, it differentiates performance in edge AI and IoT gateways, emphasizing stable, long-term supply and real-time processing as its strengths. The company also plans to build a global open-source ecosystem and expand educational FPGA learning kits.

In its medical device portfolio, smart hearing aid development is underway. The company is reorganizing its digital healthcare pipeline around “smart hearing aids” and aims to launch a portable hearing-assist device that integrates AI signal processing and app connectivity into the OTC (over-the-counter) market next year at an affordable price.

In the diagnostics field, the company is preparing a point-of-care diagnostic platform by combining semiconductor technology with biosensing through its bio-semiconductor POCT solution. The first target is the measurement of glycated albumin (GA), used in diabetes management. MIJ is developing a silicon-wafer-based biosensor SoC to enable portable POCT devices to check GA levels within minutes using a small amount of blood. This technology has the potential to change the paradigm of diabetes patient management in hospitals, pharmacies, and homes by measuring GA — which is useful for evaluating short-term blood sugar control compared to HbA1c — quickly and inexpensively with laboratory-level accuracy. The company plans to verify prototypes by 2025, conduct clinical trials with domestic university hospitals, and aims to launch the product in 2027.

MIJ’s fabless–medical device convergence strategy is being pursued at a time when national and regional policies and industrial trends align. Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province and Kangwon National University are supporting the growth of semiconductor, bio, and health industries through the RISE program, and the Defense Venture Center provides R&D and market support for defense SMEs, creating an environment in which the company can participate in defense projects. In the defense sector, MIJ is pursuing development projects for innovative equipment such as embedded defense-grade SoCs for secure communication processing, hearing-protection solutions for military personnel, and AI- and sensor-based training and diagnostic equipment such as “MedicBall.”

MIJ aims to advance into a global healthcare platform through its “Physical AI” strategy, which integrates continuous data generated from offline medical devices and semiconductor IP. By leveraging its own technology and the regional innovation ecosystem, the company intends to expand innovation that began with tinnitus management into smart hearing aids, AI edge boards, point-of-care diagnostics, and the defense sector, positioning itself as a globally recognized healthcare–semiconductor convergence company.

Reporter: Kim Seung-hyun