Qualcomm launches domestic IoT chip platform

At the Computex tech show mobile chip giant Qualcomm launched its Mesh Networking Platform designed to improve domestic routers with IoT in mind.

Qualcomm specialises in grouping a bunch of its chips together into a ‘platform’, often also making a ‘reference design circuit board to give equipment manufacturers a head start when using its products.

Both techniques are in play with this Mesh Networking launch. While wifi routers would appear to be the main target product category it looks like Qualcomm also hopes the platform will find its way into all manner of other domestic IoT devices, to which it will bring additional features like voice control, centralised management and security.

“New capabilities like voice assistance and IoT radio integration will not only transform consumer experiences at home, but along with carrier-grade feature enhancements, make it easier for our customers to adopt and deploy mesh systems aligned to how people want their networks to perform,” said Gopi Sirineni, VP of product management at Qualcomm.

Qualcomm isn’t the only chip player to make a Computex announcement. ARM unveiled its latest high-end Cortex A CPU designs – the first following its big DynamIQ microarchitecture launch earlier this year. The Cortex A75 and the Cortex A55 are designed to work together with the latter doing the regular processing and the former stepping up when big jobs come up. ARM also launched its latest premium GPU design – the Mali G72.