TDK’s tagline is “In Everything, Better,” which the Tokyo-based tech leader exemplified this week in a couple of announcements. One was a partnership announced by TDK with Porsche Motorsport to be the official technology partner of the Porsche Formula E team and the Porsche Coanda Esport Racing Team. The partnership starts with the 2025,2026 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship.
The other announcement was TDK’s new suite of custom sensing products affecting gamers and game gear builders. They include tunnel magnetoresistance sensor (TMR) technology for gaming keyboards, mouse wheels, controllers, webcams, AR/VR and driving wheels and pedals. Also, MEMS custom sensing will empower gaming systems with more precise navigation, motion tracking, voice detection, contact sensing and proximity and presence detection.
The ultra-precise TMR sensors will be made available to more top gaming gear makers, TDK said in a statement. “Milliseconds matter” to gamers competing in e-sports, said Hayato Miyashita, division head of TDK’s magnetic sensors group. Miyashita said the new TMR sensors have 10 times the sensitivity of traditional hall sensors.
Invensense, a TDK group company, has been making custom sensing for top gaming gear makers for 15 years with SmartMotion IMUs in controllers and AR/VR headsets. Its MEMS sensing products include ultra-low-power IMUs, MEMS microphones and time of flight sensors for AR/VR, extended reality, controllers, webcams, smart speakers and other products. TDK also makes an array of sensors for gaming gear that includes TMR angle sensors and linear sensors and temperature sensors for measuring body temperature or ambient temperature.
TDK said it will work closely with Porsche to use TDK’s core EV/Gaming relevant technologies to support the Porsche 99X Electric and its next-generation successor and the Esport simulator to accelerate their performance, reliability and efficiency. Working together positions Formula E as a live R&D lab for sustainable mobility, digital innovation and commercialization of next-generation electrification and gaming technologies, TDK said.
Formula E provides a “perfect testbed for EV technology,” TDK said in a statement. Porche’s 99X Electric race car offers peak all-electric performance. Outside the physical racetrack, TDK will help boost performance in simulation and competitive Esports.
Editor’s Note: To the uninitiated, Esports racing is not actual physical racing and is instead a digital form of motorsports that simulates real-world racing through advanced software and some hardware including steering wheels, pedals and full-motion rigs. Sim racing is realistic and immersive but enthusiasts will admit it lacks physical G-forces and other tactile feedback that a real car would provide. Formula E is a racing championship using single-seater, open-wheel, all-electric cars that race on city street circuits around the globe.