NVE, located in Eden Prarie, Minn., develops and distributes devices using 'spintronics,' a nanotechnology the company helped pioneer, which utilizes electron spin rather than electron charge to acquire, store and transmit information. NVE is a licensor of spintronic magnetic random access memory technology, otherwise known as MRAM. It also manufactures spintronic products, including sensors and couplers, which are used to acquire and transmit data in automated factories. NVE was founded in 1989, primarily as a government contract research company. It has distributed licenses for its MRAM intellectual property to select customers, including Cypress Semiconductor Corporation, Honeywell International and Motorola. NVE s sensors and couplers are sold through a worldwide distribution network.