Qualcomm acquired Arduino — an icon of the DIY electronics world
Qualcomm has announced its acquisition of Arduino, the Italian electronics firm renowned for its affordable, programmable boards. These boards are a favorite among startups, robotics labs, and hobbyists for rapid prototyping. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
A Strategic Play for the Developer Community
This acquisition grants Qualcomm direct access to a vast and vibrant community of developers and robotics enthusiasts. While Arduino products are ideal for experimentation and proof-of-concept projects, Qualcomm's strategy is to nurture these developers through the prototyping stage and then sell them high-performance chips for commercial production.
You start moving toward prototyping, proof of concept, and once you’re ready, you can go to market, which is obviously something we know well.
Diversifying Beyond Mobile
A key objective for Qualcomm is to diversify its business beyond its core mobile chip market. This move strengthens its position in the growing automotive and IoT sectors, which already accounted for 30% of the company's total revenue last quarter.
Until now, accessing Qualcomm chips has been challenging for small-scale developers. In contrast, competitors like Nvidia offer robotics developer kits directly to consumers. Through this acquisition and others like Foundries.io and Edge Impulse, Qualcomm aims to become more accessible and establish a strong foothold in robotics, with ambitions to power advanced humanoid robots.
Introducing the First Qualcomm-Powered Arduino
Coinciding with the acquisition, the first Qualcomm-powered Arduino board was announced: the Uno Q, featuring the Dragonwing QRB2210 chip. Priced between $45 and $55, this new board significantly upgrades the platform's capabilities.
- Runs on a full-fledged Linux operating system.
- Supports existing Arduino software and libraries.
- Features on-device machine vision capabilities.
Qualcomm has assured the community that it will continue to produce and sell existing Arduino boards, which use processors from companies like STMicroelectronics and NXP. The goal is a seamless transition.
Our measure of success is that the Arduino ecosystem doesn't even feel the change in ownership.