Chip makers

Mezmeriz (based in Ithaca, New York, USA) design and deliver MEMS mirror systems for use within a scanning laser pico projector.  The company's carbon-fiber MEMS mirror systems are based on patented technology developed at Cornell University.

Mezmeriz are backed by several venture capital firms, and are currently working with development partners that will help them build and deliver embeddable pico-projector module to the market.

Mezmeriz's web site

Syndiant, founded in 2004 and based in Texas, has designed light-modulating panels for high-res displays used in pico projectors. Syndiant's light modulating panels use Liquid Crystal on Silicon (LCoS) to provide a high resolution display, and are designed to work with either LED or laser light sources.

During 2010 Syndiant announced design wins with several pico-projectors from AAXA, 3M, Philips, Aiptek and other companies.

In July 2009 we interviewed Syndiant's founder and CTO, and posted follow-up interviews in May 2010 and in December 2010. You can read the latest pico-projector news from Syndiant here.

Syndiant's web page

Maradin is an Israeli startup company, working on miniaturized laser-diode projector (MLP), based on MEMS technology.  The MLP enables the projection of true colored data, by raster scanning a low power laser beam, to achieve high resolution, video quality images.

Employment of MEMS technology enables the miniaturization of the projection platform without reduction in both resolution and quality, which adds up as a very attractive display technology.

Maradin is still in an early stage, hoping to have products (chips) ready by 2010. In May 2010, they announced that their chipset is "pre-production ready", and in October 2010 they have started shipping samples to key customers.

Check this report on Maradin we made in July 2009.

Maradin's web site

Coretronic is a provider of projection and display solutions, based in Taiwan. Coretronic makes DLP projectors, and claims to have around 15% global market share.

Coretronic also has a subsidiary, Young Optics which makes pico projection modules based on TI's DLP chips.

Coretronic's web site

Microvision is a public company based in the US with around 150 employees, focused on display systems. Microvision has developed their own laser-beam-steering pico projection engine, the PicoP.

Microvision is also offering two stand alone pico projectors, the Show WX plus and the older Show WX classic.

You can read the latest pico-projector news from Microvision here.

Microvision's web site

Texas Instruments (TI) develops analog, digital signal processing, RF and DLP semiconductor technologies. TI has three generations of pico-DLP chips - the latest WXGA (HD) one announced in January 2011.

You can read the latest pico-projector news from TI here.

TI DLP's web site