Qualcomm acquires DIY electronics platform Arduino
What's the story
Qualcomm, a leading smartphone processor and modem manufacturer, has announced its acquisition of Arduino. The Italian company is best known for its open-source microcontroller ecosystem and the software that powers them. In the announcement, Qualcomm assured that Arduino would retain its brand identity and mission, including its "open source ethos" and "support for multiple silicon vendors."
Community impact
Benefits for Arduino's community
Qualcomm's press release said that the acquisition would benefit the 33 million-plus active users in the Arduino community. They will get access to Qualcomm Technologies's advanced technology stack and global reach. This move is expected to empower entrepreneurs, businesses, tech professionals, students, educators, and hobbyists to quickly prototype and test new solutions with support from Qualcomm Technologies's extensive partner ecosystem.
Product launch
First product from this acquisition
The first product of this acquisition is the Arduino Uno Q, a single-board computer powered by a Qualcomm Dragonwing QRB2210 processor. The QRB2210 features a quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 CPU and a Qualcomm Adreno 702 GPU, along with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity. It combines these features with a real-time microcontroller "to bridge high-performance computing with real-time control."
Acquisition worries
Fears of restriction in open-source project
Despite Qualcomm's assurances, there are concerns that the acquisition could lead to a gradual restriction of the open-source project. This could mean fewer (or no) hardware or software projects released to the open-source community, or less support for non-Qualcomm chips. There are also fears that more focus could shift toward Qualcomm's larger corporate clients at the cost of educators and tinkerers in Arduino's community.