Qualcomm and STMicroelectronics Agree on Strategic Partnership to Drive Wireless IoT and Edge AI

In October 2024, STMicroelectronics (ST) and Qualcomm announced a strategic agreement, targeting the wireless Internet of Things (IoT) market. The deal will pair ST’s popular STM32 family of MCUs with Qualcomm’s Wi-Fi, Bluetooth®, and Thread combo Systems-on-chip (SoCs), with the goal of reducing IoT application development costs and accelerating time to market.

As part of the deal, ST will introduce a series of self-contained modules, using Qualcomm’s SoC portfolio, which Qualcomm says can be “system-level integrated with any STM32 general-purpose microcontrollers.” The initial product offerings are expected to be commercially available in 1Q 2025, with “broader availability to follow,” according to Qualcomm.

Qualcomm and ST describe the deal as a significant step in developing the wireless IoT business, enabling Artificial Intelligence (AI) at the edge, and unlocking value for Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) customers across the consumer and Industrial IoT (IIoT) devices. ST will continue to pursue its own Bluetooth® Low Energy (LE), Thread, Zigbee, and sub-Gigahertz (GHz) portfolio, with the new modules running in parallel.

In practice, the agreement brings together two complementary capabilities, leveraging Qualcomm’s expertise in low-power wireless connectivity and ST’s flagship microcontroller family, to facilitate the design and development of IoT applications.

For Qualcomm, the agreement extends the reach of its wireless connectivity platform, tapping into ST’s 100,000 strong developer network that currently uses the STM32 family. Qualcomm’s wireless SoCs can now be coupled with the entire STM32 MCU portfolio, which includes the chips themselves, and the supporting development tools, providing end-to-end compatibility. This enables Qualcomm to use ST’s established distribution channels, instead of having to market its SoC portfolio to manufacturers directly or through its existing partner channels, unlocking an extensive new customer base of IoT device OEMs using Short-Range Wireless (SRW) technologies.

Qualcomm will also welcome the opportunity to strengthen its wireless IoT business unit to diversify from its smartphone business. According to Enrico Salvatori, Senior Vice President and President of Qualcomm Europe, “For Qualcomm, IoT is an area where we are investing more and more. We are using technology developed for the smartphone industry to address other sectors, and STMicroelectronics is a valuable partner for us.”

For ST, the partnership will help ensure the lowest possible power consumption for devices built on STM32 MCUs. With requirements for more compute-intensive AI processing on IoT devices, at the network edge or in the cloud, Qualcomm’s low-power technologies for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth®, and Thread are designed to minimize overall power consumption from non-cellular communications. By incorporating Qualcomm’s SoCs, ST will hope to optimize the performance of the next generation of consumer and IIoT devices.

The partnership also complements ST’s proprietary wireless IoT portfolio. While ST has Bluetooth® LE, Thread, Zigbee, and sub-GHz chips, it does not market any cellular or Wi-Fi chips. By incorporating Qualcomm’s combo Wi-Fi, Bluetooth®, and Thread SoCs, ST can still serve its developer community without having to develop its own Wi-Fi chips, utilizing Qualcomm’s competency in this space instead.

For developers of IoT applications, the agreement streamlines the design process by merging hardware and software toolkits into an integrated offering. Qualcomm’s combo SoCs are pre-certified, ensuring reliable low-power connectivity hardware that can be seamlessly integrated into prototypes, providing the opportunity to expedite time to market and save on development costs.

The partnership signals a mutual effort to drive wireless IoT business for SRW devices, and Qualcomm has hinted that the deal could extend to its cellular products for IIoT applications.

For ST, the extension of the partnership to couple the STM32 family with Qualcomm’s cellular SoCs would provide greater coverage across the full spectrum of connectivity requirements of the IoT. For devices requiring intermediate Wide Area Network (WAN) throughput, Qualcomm’s 5G Reduced Capability (RedCap) and future Enhanced RedCap (eRedCap) chipsets would provide simplified, lower-power IoT connectivity into and throughout the 5G era. Incorporating RedCap chips into a self-contained module would provide ST with an extensive addressable market for developers of mid-tier IoT devices—namely those with an affinity to 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) Cat-4, and Cat-1.

For Qualcomm, the deal is part of its latest wave of investment in the IoT as it looks to diversify from its smartphone business. Only a week before the agreement with ST, Qualcomm had closed its acquisition of Sequans’ 4G IoT technology for US$200 million. This latest partnership with ST should provide impetus for Qualcomm’s non-cellular SoCs; and the possibility of extending it to couple the STM32 family with its cellular portfolios would provide further market opportunity within ST’s growing IoT developer community.