Qualcomm Acquires Arduino, Launches UNO Q To Supercharge Edge AI IoT Developers

In a major shake-up to the hobbyist and professional electronics world, chip giant Qualcomm announced its intent to acquire Arduino, the beloved Italian open-source hardware and software company best known for the UNO and Nano. Unveiled earlier this week, the acquisition is set to inject Qualcomm's Dragonwing AI and computing platform into the hands of Arduino’s massive community of over 33 million active users.

Since the early 2000s, Arduino boards have been the cornerstone of the maker movement, serving as simple, affordable, and open-source ways for anyone to learn about and build electronic projects, from blinking LEDs to complex robotics. With this purchase (along with recent additions like Edge Impulse and Foundries,io), Qualcomm’s solidifies its effort to build a "full-stack edge platform," essentially making it easier for inventors, students, and startups to rapidly prototype and scale smart devices with AI built-in.

That said, Arduino is insistent ...