A lot of cheap dev boards and Qualcomm-flavored software tools will certainly give the company access to entire sectors previously excluded. Qualcomm hitherto only talked to big old companies who'd sign big old contracts with big old secrets. Now Qualcomm silicon and software can get into the hands of individuals, educators and inventive start-ups. That's where the future comes from, especially where the better sort of AI fertilizes the better sort of robotics.
Today Qualcomm has announced that it's buying Arduino, which will remain an independent brand that will continue to support "a large range of microcontrollers and microprocessors from multiple semiconductor providers", Qualcomm says in its official press release. Arduino's 33 million active users will, as a consequence of the acquisition, gain access to Qualcomm's "powerful technology stack and global reach". The new Arduino Uno Q is a next-gen single board computer with a "dual brain" architecture with a Linux Debian capable microprocessor and a real-time microcontroller.