Impinj Supports Japanese Government Electronic Tag Initiative

New Japan declaration for electronic tags for drugstore items affirms Impinj vision of digital life for everyday items


SEATTLE, March 16, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Impinj, Inc. (NASDAQ:PI), a leading provider and pioneer of RAIN RFID solutions, today announced its support for the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) of Japan’s intention to electronically connect items in drugstores nationwide. The METI initiative is intended to achieve individual-item monitoring for every product in drugstores in order to increase efficiencies across the industry. A similar declaration announced in April 2017 introduced 100 billion electronic tags for products in convenience stores.

“We applaud METI and the visionary Japanese companies that have come together to enable digital life for items, first in the convenience-store industry and today in the healthcare industry,” said Chris Diorio, Impinj founder and CEO. “We envision a future where people and businesses engage connected items as part of their everyday lives, and we are committed to delivering a technology platform that enables that connectivity as the core of the Internet of Things.” 

Impinj’s vision is to extend the reach of the Internet by a factor of 1,000, connecting everyday items such as retail apparel, pharmaceuticals, food, and luggage to the cloud. Impinj delivers this item-to-cloud connectivity using RAIN RFID, a battery-free radio technology ideally suited to identifying, locating, and authenticating everyday items.

The Impinj platform, which includes endpoint ICs, connectivity devices, and software, connects everyday items to business and consumer applications – enabling businesses to analyze and use data about those items to improve efficiencies, increase sales, and delight customers.

METI’s initiative aligns with Impinj’s focus on embedding or attaching an endpoint IC to every item in our everyday world; reading, locating, and authenticating those items both in the supply chain and in stores; and delivering streamlined data integrations for application developers in the food, healthcare, logistics, and retail industries.

“In our engagements across many industries, we see first-hand the incredible impact RAIN RFID has on a business when that business has access to accurate, real-time data about items they manufacture, transport, and sell,” said Diorio. “In Japan, METI is enabling a vision of business and people using RAIN to connect-with and engage items. We wholeheartedly support that vision.”

Forward-Looking Statements

This release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements include statements regarding the market for RAIN RFID and our strategy and prospects. Forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties and are based on potentially inaccurate assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expected or implied by the forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ materially from the results predicted, and reported results should not be considered as an indication of future performance. The potential risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from the results predicted include, among others, those risks and uncertainties included under the caption "Risk Factors" and elsewhere in our annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. All information provided in this release and in the attachments is as of the date hereof, and we undertake no duty to update this information unless required by law.

About Impinj

Impinj (NASDAQ: PI) wirelessly connects billions of everyday items such as apparel, medical supplies, and automobile parts to consumer and business applications such as inventory management, patient safety, and asset tracking. The Impinj platform uses RAIN RFID to deliver timely information about these items to the digital world, thereby enabling the Internet of Things. www.impinj.com 

Impinj is a registered trademark of Impinj, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their owners.

For more information, contact:

Gaylene Meyer
Sr. Director Global Marketing & Communications
Phone: +1 206-812-9816
gmeyer@impinj.com
www.impinj.com