Qualcomm Snags Arduino, Debuts UNO Q Single-Board Computer
Qualcomm notched another acquisition for its edge computing plans this week. Arduino makes hardware and software often associated with edge computing, in which data is handled on-device (the edge) instead of in the cloud. As AI has seen explosive growth, the need for hardware that can handle some AI duties on-device has also increased. That's where Arduino comes in with its new, Raspberry Pi -like device.
The two companies took the opportunity to introduce a new version of Arduino's UNO platform with the UNO Q. The tiny computer gives developers a similar device to the long-running Raspberry Pi, but with a Qualcomm Dragonwing QRB2210 processor and development software Arduino App Lab.
Credit: Qualcomm
"Arduino has built a vibrant global community of developers and creators," said Nakul Duggal, Qualcomm's group general manager of automotive, industrial, and embedded IoT. "By combining their open-source ethos with Qualcomm Technologies' portfolio of leading-edge products and technologies, we're helping enable millions of developers to create intelligent solutions faster and more efficiently—including a path towards global commercialization by leveraging the scale of our ecosystem."
The single-board Arduino UNO Q supports Linux Debian. It has an STM32U585 microcontroller with an Arm Cortex-M33 processor in addition to the Dragonwing CPU (with a quad-core Arm Cortex-A53)—a setup that Arduino dubs a "dual-brain" design. The board also has 2GB of onboard RAM, a Wi-Fi 5 antenna, and a Bluetooth 5.1 antenna. Storage comes by way of a 16GB eMMC. The first model is available for $44, with another version in the works.
Qualcomm pointed out when it announced the deal with Arduino that the chipmaker is a B2B company, so firms like Arduino can help it reach developers better and build relationships. To allay any concerns that Arduino will change, Qualcomm noted that Arduino is not being absorbed into the larger company, writing, "Arduino will preserve its open approach and community spirit while unlocking a full-stack platform for development—with Arduino UNO Q as the first step," in a statement.
This isn't the first edge computing company that Qualcomm has acquired. The company also grabbed AI platform Edge Impulse and Foundries.io and touted the "seamless integration" of its Arduino App Lab with Edge Impulse. In case you missed it, Qualcomm also just released its Snapdragon X2 Elite NPUs for laptops.
The UNO Q takes on the Raspberry Pi , which has single-board models ranging from as little as $20 to $132 for the feature-packed Raspberry Pi 5. That model has 16GB of RAM and a 2.4GHz quad-core Arm Cortex-A76 processor.
