Qualcomm Is Buying Arduino, Releases New Raspberry Pi-Esque Arduino Board

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Smartphone processor and modem maker Qualcomm is acquiring Arduino, the Italian company known mainly for its open source ecosystem of microcontrollers and the software that makes them function. In its announcement, Qualcomm said that Arduino would '[retain] its brand and mission,' including its 'open source ethos' and 'support for multiple silicon vendors.' Qualcomm didn't disclose what it would pay to acquire Arduino. The acquisition also needs to be approved by regulators 'and other customary closing conditions.'

The first fruit of this pending acquisition will be the Arduino Uno Q, a Qualcomm-based single-board computer with a Qualcomm Dragonwing QRB2210 processor installed. The QRB2210 includes a quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 CPU and a Qualcomm Adreno 702 GPU, plus Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, and combines that with a real-time microcontroller 'to bridge high-performance computing with real-time control.' 'Arduino will retain its independent brand, tools, and mission, while continuing to support a wide range of microcontrollers and microprocessors from multiple semiconductor providers as it enters this next chapter within the Qualcomm family,' Qualcomm said in its press release. 'Following this acquisition, the 33M+ active users in the Arduino community will gain access to Qualcomm Technologies' powerful technology stack and global reach. Entrepreneurs, businesses, tech professionals, students, educators, and hobbyists will be empowered to rapidly prototype and test new solutions, with a clear path to commercialization supported by Qualcomm Technologies' advanced technologies and extensive partner ecosystem.'

CNBC notes in its reporting that this acquisition gives Qualcomm 'direct access to the tinkerers, hobbyists and companies at the lowest levels of the robotics industry.' From the report: Arduino products can't be used to build commercial products but, with chips preinstalled, they're popular for testing out a new idea or proving a concept. Qualcomm hopes that Arduino can help it gain loyalty and legitimacy among startups and builders as robots and other devices increasingly need more powerful chips for artificial intelligence. When some of those experiments become products, Qualcomm wants to sell them its chips commercially.

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