This acquisition is anticipated to complement Qualcomm Technologies’ strategic approach to IoT, which includes a comprehensive chipset roadmap, unified software architecture, a suite of services, developer resources, ecosystem partners, comprehensive solutions, and IoT blueprints to address diverse industry needs and challenges.
The acquisition was described as opportunity to significantly enhance Qualcomm’s IoT offerings with the addition of Edge Impulse’s advanced AI-powered end-to-end platform, by Nakul Duggal, group general manager, automotive, industrial and embedded IoT, and cloud computing, Qualcomm Technologies.
“We anticipate that this acquisition will strengthen our leadership in AI and developer enablement, enhancing our ability to provide comprehensive technology for critical sector. IoT opens the door for a myriad of opportunities,” said Duggal. “Success is about building real-world solutions, enabling developers and enterprises with AI capabilities to extract intelligence from data, and providing them with the tools to build the applications and services that will power the digital transformation of industries.”
The widespread adoption of AI in IoT solutions is being driven by the ability to augment or automate workflows through rapid data collection, AI-enabled analysis, and enhanced decision-making, allowing enterprises to benefit from improved operational flexibility and efficiency.
Qualcomm Technologies is looking to capitalise on this trend enabling industrial transformation with IoT and edge AI technology.
Since last year, Qualcomm Technologies has adapted its strategy to meet the requirements of various IoT segments providing integrated solutions that combine services, software, and hardware, designed to scale across multiple verticals, including consumer, security, healthcare, retail, energy, and enterprise.
The components of Qualcomm Technologies’ approach to IoT include:
Comprehensive chipset roadmap: Application processors and connectivity chips tailored to meet the diverse requirements of industry sectors and devices
Unified software architecture: Software designed for consistency and efficiency across platforms to reduce development and maintenance costs, and enhance security
Suite of services: Cloud services and software-as-a-service capabilities to facilitate commercialisation and expand the capabilities of industrial and embedded applications
Developer resources: Hardware and software development kits to support IoT developers
Ecosystem partners: A network of distributors, independent hardware and software vendors, design centres and system integrators, ODMs and OEMs
Solutions: Purpose-built offerings developed in collaboration with industrial and enterprise customers, using the Company’s technologies and engineering expertise to tackle tough challenges
IoT blueprints: Curated set of technologies, ecosystem partners and solutions to address the needs of multiple industries
Edge Impulse’s end-to-end edge AI platform is currently used by over 170,000 developers to create, deploy, and monitor AI models on a wide array of edge devices - with support for varied microcontrollers and processors featuring AI accelerators from multiple semiconductor providers.
The development platform includes a comprehensive set of tools and features for data collection and preparation, model training, deployment and monitoring, and developers can utilise Edge Impulse’s platform to build solutions for a wide range of applications using various AI capabilities including computer vision, time-series data, audio events and speech recognition.
According to Qualcomm Technologies it’s aiming to give developers on Edge Impulse’s platform the ability to target Qualcomm Dragonwing processors.
In addition, integration with the Qualcomm AI Hub will enhance the optimisation of AI models for Qualcomm Technologies’ platforms, leading to a peak of up to 4x increased inference performance, and reduced model size and memory footprint.
Edge Impulse currently supports Dragonwing QCS6490 and QCS5430 processors and is scheduled to add support for additional Dragonwing processors for industrial and embedded IoT applications.
Edge Impulse will maintain its current website (branded as “Edge Impulse, a Qualcomm company”) and remains dedicated to supporting developers and ecosystem partners.
