Year in Review: AI Continues March to the Edge

Artificial intelligence (AI) continued to migrate to the edge in 2024, with high-profile companies like NVIDIA and Qualcomm continuing to refine their edge AI chips and improve power efficiency and performance for on-device AI inferencing tasks, particularly for applications such as computer vision and predictive maintenance. At the other end of the scale, microcontroller vendors like Infineon, STMicroelectronics, NXP, and Renesas also emphasized AI, launching MCUs and SoCs with integrated AI and machine-learning capabilities, including neural processing units (NPUs). The move to integrate AI capabilities into more MCUs is happening concurrent with another move to enhance MCU product portfolios by adding 64-bit architectures.