ST and Qualcomm team up on wireless IoT
STMicroelectronics and Qualcomm have entered a new strategic collaboration for the next generation of industrial and consumer IoT solutions augmented by edge AI.
This highly complementary collaboration will see the two companies integrate Qualcomm Technologies' AI-powered wireless connectivity technologies, starting with Wi-Fi/Bluetooth/Thread combo system-on-a-chip (SoC), with the microcontroller (MCU) ecosystem from ST.
Developers will benefit from connectivity software integration into STM32 general-purpose MCUs, including software toolkits, facilitating quick and broad adoption via ST’s world-wide sales and distributor channels.
“Wireless connectivity is key to the fast pervasion of edge AI across an ever-growing variety of use cases in enterprise, industrial and personal applications. This is why we are establishing a strategic collaboration with Qualcomm Technologies on wireless connectivity today, starting with Wi-Fi/BT/Thread combo SoC, and already considering next steps, complementing our existing multi-protocol Bluetooth Low Energy, Zigbee, Thread and sub-GHz products portfolio. We envision wireless connectivity products based on technology from Qualcomm Technologies augmenting any of our STM32 products, bringing significant value to our more than 100,000 STM32 customers globally,” says Remi El-Ouazzane, President, Microcontrollers, Digital ICs and RF Products Group, for STMicroelectronics in a press release.
Focusing on the broader market, ST plans to introduce self-contained modules utilising Qualcomm Technologies’ Wi-Fi/Bluetooth/Thread combo SoC portfolio, which can be system-level integrated with any STM32 general-purpose microcontrollers. Wireless connectivity optimised and made available to ST’s developer ecosystem through ST’s well established software platform will contribute to reducing development time and time-to-market. The initial product offerings resulting from this collaboration are expected to be available to OEMs in Q1 2025, with broader availability to follow. This is a first step in a collaboration that envisions a roadmap of Wi-Fi/Bluetooth/Thread combo SoC products over time, with the intention to extend into cellular connectivity for industrial IoT applications.
"Qualcomm Technologies' research and development leadership has helped drive the evolution of wireless IoT, ranging from pioneering 4G/5G, to high performance Wi-Fi, to micropower connectivity solutions. Our collaboration with STMicroelectronics pairs Qualcomm Technologies’ best-in-class connectivity offerings with ST’s leading STM32 microcontroller ecosystem and will help drive a significant acceleration of feature-rich capabilities across the IoT," says Rahul Patel, Group General Manager, Connectivity, Broadband and Networking Business Unit for Qualcomm Technologies.
