Author: Tysin Source: Unknown Release Time: 2018-12-24      
      

Amazon's acquisition of Whole Foods Markets is not good news for many retailers and real estate investment trusts, but it is a powerful driving force for some new technology companies or newly listed technology stocks.          
  

Impinj, a Seattle-based company that provides radio frequency identification (RFID) technology to retailers, is one of the core technologies used by Amazon Go, a no-man convenience store project, Bloomberg reported. Because of Amazon Go and Amazon's acquisition of Total Eclipse, Impinj's stock price has more than tripled since its initial IPO in July last year.            

"Connecting daily necessities is the next step on the Internet." Chris Diorio, CEO of Impinj, said, "In the future, you can get information directly and quickly about what you own or what you want to buy."Unlike Zebra Technologies, a manufacturer of barcode and radio frequency identification label printers, and NXP Semiconductors NV, which provides terminal chips, Impinj provides a complete system. At present, Impinj products are most widely used among clothing retailers. Diorio estimates that about 80 billion RFID tags are digested annually in the apparel retail sector, and Impinj's current penetration rate is 5-10%.    
        

Diorio believes that the most promising area for RFID tag technology application is the food industry. "Once our technology enters the food industry, that number will soar." That explains why Impinj's share price jumped 19% on June 16. It was the day Amazon announced its $13.7 billion acquisition of Whole Food Supermarket.            
 

It has been reported that Amazon has now applied Impinj technology to its physical bookstore. However, both companies refused to talk about their relationship.            

"Although it's still in the internal testing stage, all kinds of information indicate that Amazon Go uses RFID technology." Brad Erickson, an analyst at KeyBanc Capital Markets, an investment bank, said, "In this case, I think Impinj has something to do with Amazon."            
 

It is reported that Amazon is a member of RAIN Alliance (an organization founded by Impinj to promote the wide application of RFID technology in the world). In the near future, the two companies will co-host an investor conference of the organization in Seattle.    
        

According to public data, Impinj's revenue reached $112 million in fiscal year 2016, with a net loss of $1.7 million for non-US GAAP, and its share price increased by 276% compared with the time it went public on July 20.