Semiconductor maker STMicroelectronics (STMicro) has agreed a deal to acquire France-based edge AI software specialist Cartesiam for an undisclosed fee. The deal covers all Cartesiam’s assets, including its intellectual property portfolio and employees.
Cartesiam, founded in 2016, based in Toulon, makes artificial intelligence (AI) development tools enabling machine-learning (ML) and inferencing on Arm-based microcontrollers. Its team includes data scientists and embedded signal processing engineers. It works with the likes of Altyor, Bosch, Crouzet, Lacroix Electronics, Schneider Electric, SMRI, and Vapérail.
The company’s flagship NanoEdge AI Studio allows embedded systems designers with limited knowledge in AI to develop specialized libraries integrating ML algorithms directly into a broad range of applications. The product is used in devices “already in production”, in connected devices, household appliances, and industrial machines.
STMicro said the NanoEdge AI Studio solution complements its STM32Cube.AI toolset, which offers the ability to map and run pre-trained artificial neural networks on its STM32 family of 32-bit microcontrollers. The deal reinforces its AI strategy and technology portfolio to address the full spectrum of embedded ML needs, it said.
The STM32 family is based on the Arm’s Cortex-M processor for low-cost and low-power processors, as found in various consumer IoT and industrial IoT devices. Increasing processing power for ML workloads is migrating to the edge, including into battery-powered IoT devices, with the likes of Nordic Semiconductor and Infineon both making announcements around so-called tinyML acquisitions and developments.
Claude Dardanne, president of microcontrollers and digital integrated circuits at STMicro, said: “Using AI to create ever smarter solutions is one of the priorities of our customers regardless of their size or industry… The addition of Cartesiam’s machine learning technology to STMicroelectronics’ existing solutions will provide the best edge-AI solution portfolio on the market for any customer looking to bring additional innovation to their offering.”
