STMicroelectronics, Qualcomm Enter Strategic Collaboration in Wireless IoT

STMicroelectronics and Qualcomm Technologies International, Ltd. announce 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’ leading AI-powered wireless connectivity technologies, starting with Wi-Fi/Bluetooth/Thread combo system-on-a-chip (SoC), with the market-leading microcontroller (MCU) ecosystem from ST.

Through this collaboration, developers will enjoy seamless 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,” Remi El-Ouazzane, president, Microcontrollers, Digital ICs and RF Products Group, for STMicroelectronics said. “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.”

“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,” added Rahul Patel, group GM, Connectivity, Broadband and Networking Business Unit for Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. “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.”

Focusing on the broader market, ST plans to introduce self-contained modules utilizing Qualcomm Technologies’ Wi-Fi/Bluetooth/Thread combo SoC portfolio, which can be system-level integrated with any STM32 general-purpose microcontrollers. The initial product offerings resulting from this collaboration are expected to be available to OEMs in Q1 2025, with broader availability to follow.