Qualcomm Acquires Arduino To Accelerate The Global Maker Movement

Arduino offers an accessible platform for creating interactive projects and boasts an active community of around 33 million users. Its ecosystem now spans IoT, wearables, 3D printing and embedded systems, meeting diverse technological needs.

 Arduino was founded in 2005 at the Interaction Design Institute Ivrea in Italy by Massimo Banzi, David Cuartielles, Tom Igoe, Gianluca Martino, and David Mellis.

Named after a local bar, the project aimed to make microcontrollers affordable and user-friendly for design students. By offering both hardware and software as open source, Arduino rapidly evolved into a global platform for makers, educators and developers.

From a simple educational tool, it became a cornerstone of the maker movement, enabling DIY projects, artistic creations, prototypes, and commercial products worldwide.

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The acquisition strengthens Qualcomm Technologies’ strategy to empower developers by providing access to its advanced edge technologies and products.

By integrating Qualcomm’s leading processing, graphics, computer vision, and AI capabilities with Arduino’s affordability, simplicity, and community, developer productivity across industries is set to accelerate.

Arduino will maintain its open-source approach, community focus and independent brand while offering a full-stack platform for modern development. It will continue supporting a broad range of microcontrollers and microprocessors from multiple semiconductor providers, now enhanced by Qualcomm’s global reach and technology portfolio.

Arduino’s 33M+ active users, including entrepreneurs, businesses, tech professionals, students, educators, and hobbyists, will benefit from rapid prototyping, testing, and a clear path to commercialisation supported by Qualcomm’s technologies and partner ecosystem.

Yet, the acquisition also signals a pivotal moment for Europe’s maker community. While Arduino retains its brand and community, strategic control moves to a US tech giant, raising questions about Europe’s capacity to preserve homegrown innovation and infrastructure.

The new Arduino UNO Q is a next-generation single-board computer featuring a “dual brain” architecture, combining a Linux Debian-capable microprocessor with a real-time microcontroller to merge high-performance computing with real-time control.

Powered by the Qualcomm Dragonwing™ QRB2210 processor running a full Linux environment, UNO Q enables AI-powered vision and sound applications that respond to their surroundings from smart home devices to industrial automation. Designed for accessibility and versatility, it aims to be the go-to tool for developers pursuing lifelong learning and innovation.

UNO Q is the first Arduino board compatible with Arduino App Lab, a unified development environment supporting Real-time OS, Linux, Python, and AI workflows. App Lab provides an open-source platform for rapid ideation, prototyping, and scaling of AI-driven solutions.

Integration with the Edge Impulse platform streamlines the creation, tuning, and optimisation of AI models using real-world data, supporting capabilities such as object and human detection, anomaly detection, image classification, ambient sound recognition and keyword spotting.

“With our acquisitions of Foundries.io, Edge Impulse, and now Arduino, we are accelerating our vision to democratize access to our leading‑edge AI and computing products for the global developer community,” said Nakul Duggal, Group General Manager, Automotive, Industrial and Embedded IoT, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.

“Arduino has built a vibrant global community of developers and creators. 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 commercialisation by leveraging the scale of our ecosystem.”

“Joining forces with Qualcomm Technologies allows us to supercharge our commitment to accessibility and innovation,” said Fabio Violante, CEO, Arduino.

“The launch of UNO Q is just the beginning we’re excited to empower our global community with powerful tools that make AI development intuitive, scalable, and open to everyone.”

“Our passion for simplicity, affordability, and community gave rise to a movement that changed technology,” said Massimo Banzi, Co-founder, Arduino.

“By joining Qualcomm Technologies, we’ll bring cutting-edge AI tools to our community while staying true to what has always mattered most to us.”

About Arduino

Founded in 2005, Arduino is a pioneering open-source hardware and software company, empowering over 30 million developers globally. Its accessible platform enables creators, educators, and innovators to design interactive projects, IoT devices and prototypes, driving the maker movement and fostering creativity, learning and technological innovation worldwide.