Melexis NV

Melexis NV traces its beginnings to a garage in Belgium. Its speciality is giving electronics a sense of what is happening around them: how far a pedal has moved, how hot a component is or how much current flows through a cable. These are small chips doing jobs that a vehicle cannot afford to guess.

Based in Ieper, the company designs, tests and sells sensor and driver chips. Sensors turn physical changes into electronic readings; drivers control motors and other components. Outside its established automotive business, the same skills serve robotic joints, electric bikes and industrial equipment. Specialist manufacturers produce the silicon wafers on which its chips are built.