# Mauna Kea Semiconductors Corporation

> Mauna Kea Semiconductors (MKSemi) is a Silicon Valley fabless chip company building what it calls the world's lowest-power ultra-wideband (UWB) technology - the short-range radio that lets phones, wearables, cars and IoT devices know precisely where they are and which direction they're pointing, down to a few centimeters. Founded in 2019 by semiconductor veterans and headquartered in Cupertino/San Jose with engineering hubs across China, MKSemi sells UWB chips, modules and SDKs, headlined by its highly integrated MK8000 SoC, to device OEMs and ODMs chasing precise location, secure ranging and radar-style sensing on coin-cell batteries.

- **Founded:** 2019
- **Headquarters:** Cupertino / San Jose, California, United States
- **Founders:** Dr. Yifeng Zhang (Co-founder, President & CEO), Vasanth Gaddam (Co-founder & Chief Architect), Dr. Allen Li (Co-founder & VP Engineering)
- **Team size:** ~9 employees (small, engineering-focused)
- **Products:** MK8000 UWB SoC, UWB Modules, UWB SDK & Profile Customization
- **Notable:** Launched the MK8000, marketed as the world's lowest-power, highest-integration UWB SoC (2022)., Claimed ~2x better receive power and 5-10x better compute efficiency than competing UWB devices., Raised $12.8M Pre-A+ led by Lightspeed China with Qiming and Ivy Capital participation.

## Products & services

- **MK8000 UWB SoC** — Highly integrated ultra-wideband wireless system-on-chip with an on-board ARM Cortex-M0, AES engine and TRNG for secure ranging; compliant with IEEE 802.15.4/4z, FiRa, CCC 3.0 and ICCE, drawing ~43mA in receive mode - marketed as the lowest-power, highest-integration UWB chip for coin-cell IoT, wearables and smart tags.
- **UWB Modules** — Ready-to-integrate UWB modules, including multi-antenna and Bluetooth+UWB variants, for OEMs/ODMs adding high-precision ranging and direction finding.
- **UWB SDK & Profile Customization** — Software development kit and firmware profiles (FiRa, CCC) that let device makers customize ranging, radar sensing and direction-finding behavior.

## Achievements

- Launched the MK8000, marketed as the world's lowest-power, highest-integration UWB SoC (2022).
- Claimed ~2x better receive power and 5-10x better compute efficiency than competing UWB devices.
- Raised $12.8M Pre-A+ led by Lightspeed China with Qiming and Ivy Capital participation.
- Recognized as a Top Semiconductor Tech Startup 2023 by Semiconductor Review.
- Selected by Infineon for an ultra-low-power UWB chip collaboration.
- Achieved FiRa, CCC 3.0 and IEEE 802.15.4z standard compliance in a single SoC.

## Latest updates

- **2023-07** — Closed a Series A funding round (~$11.18M) to scale UWB product development and go-to-market.
- **2022-04** — MK8000 UWB SoC widely covered across electronics trade press (Microwaves & RF, Microwave Journal, All About Circuits, EDN) as a low-power, high-integration milestone.
- **2022-01** — Announced $12.8M Pre-A+ round led by Lightspeed China Partners and launched the MK8000 SoC.

## Links

- Website: https://mk-semi.com
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/mauna-kea-semiconductors-corporation

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Last updated: 2026-07-11