Qualcomm solders Arduino to its edge AI ambitions, debuts Raspberry Pi rival

Cali chip giant insists single-board computer house will remain independent

Qualcomm has acquired Arduino, maker of microcontrollers (and now single-board computers), in a move designed to boost its presence in edge computing, as evidenced by a new Arduino product based on one of its Dragonwing chips.

The move was announced at a joint press event in Turin, where Arduino rolled out its latest device, the UNO Q, which sports a CPU, GPU, and MCU (microcontroller unit), and is designed to run Debian Linux.

According to Qualcomm, the takeover is aimed at empowering developers with access to the firm's portfolio of edge technologies and products, but it also gives the California chipmaker the ability to get its technology into the projects Arduino customers are building, many of which end up in commercial and industrial systems.

"We will benefit tremendously from this Arduino partnership, as we are mainly a B2B company, and we need to be more accessible to the developer community," said Nakul Duggal, Qualcomm's Group General Manager of Automotive and Industrial & Embedded IoT.

"What we are seeing today is an opportunity to make the edge so much more capable," he added.

No doubt many Arduino enthusiasts will be alarmed at what they might see as a corporate takeover of a platform that's popular with students and makers. However, the two firms insisted that Arduino will not be merged into Qualcomm and will retain its independence. Terms of the transaction, including any financial arrangements, are not being disclosed.

Arduino UNO Q

The first product of the Qualy-owned Arduino is the UNO Q, billed as the most capable Arduino ever. This has what it calls a "dual brain" architecture, with a CPU capable of running Debian Linux, plus a real-time microcontroller, bridging high-performance computing with real-time control.

Its CPU is Qualcomm's Dragonwing QRB2210 chip, which features four Kryo cores plus an Adreno 702 GPU and a dual-core DSP (digital signal processor). The UNO Q also has Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, eMMC flash storage, and Arduino header connectors for compatibility with UNO shields. The MCU appears to be an STM32U5-series chip from STMicroelectronics.

However, it also sports new high-speed header connectors on its flip side, no doubt to take advantage of the capabilities in that Dragonwing system-on-chip (SoC).

Users will be able to use the UNO Q as a standalone computer, plugging in a keyboard, mouse, and display, like they can with the rival Raspberry Pi boards. They can also run it in a more traditional PC-connected mode where the device is linked to a computer running the developer environment.

The Arduino crew couldn't resist a sneaky swipe at their rival. When asked how it differed from the Raspberry Pi, a spokesperson said that it has the dual-brain architecture "and it runs a standard version of Debian." Raspberry Pi OS is a fork of Debian.

Because this is new hardware, there is also a new developer environment, App Lab. This is intended to unify the development process across real-time code, Linux apps, and, with Qualcomm involved, AI as well.

In fact, App Lab is integrated with the AI-focused Edge Impulse platform, which Qualcomm acquired earlier this year, to make it easier to build and optimize AI models. Users will also be able to import pre-trained models from Qualcomm's AI Hub developer platform.

This indicates that Qualcomm sees its acquisition of Arduino as a way to push its AI models and hardware into lots of edge devices, which are predicted to be a key area for AI deployment.

"Joining forces with Qualcomm Technologies allows us to supercharge our commitment to accessibility and innovation," Arduino chief exec Fabio Violante said in a statement.

"The launch of UNO Q is just the beginning – we're excited to empower our global community with powerful tools that make AI development intuitive, scalable, and open to everyone."

The UNO Q will be initially available in two versions, from the official Arduino Store and distributors. One version with 2 GB RAM and 16 GB eMMC storage is available to order immediately for €39/$44, while a version with 4 GB RAM and 32 GB eMMC will be ready to order next month for €53/$59. ®