Yahoo finance: Qualcomm to acquire Arduino amid edge computing push
Daniel Howley ·Technology Editor
Tue, October 7, 2025 at 6:00 AM PDT 2 min read
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Qualcomm ( QCOM) announced on Monday that it is acquiring open-source hardware and software developer Arduino as it seeks to further grow its footprint in the edge computing space and push beyond its heavy reliance on the smartphone market.
The companies did not release pricing details of the acquisition.
Qualcomm previously acquired edge computing company Foundries.io in March 2024 and announced it was acquiring Edge Impulse in March 2025.
Edge computing includes computers that help power processing far away from data centers, ranging from point-of-sale systems in retail stores to small sensors that allow workers to remotely monitor offshore wind turbines to internet of things (IoT) devices such as smart TVs and cars. Applications generally require a balance between computing performance and power usage.
Italian company Arduino develops software and hardware that help power everything from hobbyist robots and rudimentary home automation projects to enterprise IoT platforms.
Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon delivers a keynote speech at Computex in Taipei, Taiwan May 19, 2025. REUTERS/Ann Wang ·REUTERS / Reuters“Arduino has built a vibrant global community of developers and creators,” Nakul Duggal, Qualcomm’s group GM of automotive, industrial, and embedded IoT, said in a statement.
“By combining their open-source ethos with Qualcomm Technologies’ portfolio of leading-edge products and technologies, we’re helping enable millions of developers to create intelligent solutions faster and more efficiently — including a path towards global commercialization by leveraging the scale of our ecosystem,” he added.
Qualcomm has been working to diversify its offerings at a time when the smartphone market continues to stagnate.
Last month, the company debuted its second-generation Snapdragon X2 Elite and Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme chips for Windows laptops and smaller desktop platforms. It’s also making a deeper push into the automotive space.
However, the company’s smartphone business still makes up an outsized portion of its overall revenue.
In 2024, Qualcomm reported total revenue of $33.2 billion. Of that, $24.9 billion came from handset sales. Its IoT business accounted for $5.4 billion, while its automotive segment brought in $2.9 billion.
Apple ( AAPL), which uses Qualcomm’s modem chips in its iPhone, is also increasingly moving away from the company, deploying its own custom modems in its iPhone Air and iPhone 16e. |
