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SILICON SILIC CHIP www.siliconchip.com.au Publisher/Editor Nicholas Vinen Technical Editor John Clarke – B.E.(Elec.) Technical Staff Bao Smith – B.Sc. Tim Blythman – B.E., B.Sc. Advertising Enquiries (02) 9939 3295 adverts<at>siliconchip.com.au Regular Contributors Allan Linton-Smith Dave Thompson David Maddison – B.App.Sc. (Hons 1), PhD, Grad.Dip.Entr.Innov. Geoff Graham Associate Professor Graham Parslow Dr Hugo Holden – B.H.B, MB.ChB., FRANZCO Ian Batty – M.Ed. Phil Prosser – B.Sc., B.E.(Elec.) Cartoonist Louis Decrevel loueee.com Founding Editor (retired) Leo Simpson – B.Bus., FAICD Silicon Chip is published 12 times a year by Silicon Chip Publications Pty Ltd. ACN 626 922 870. ABN 20 880 526 923. All material is copyright ©. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the written consent of the publisher. Subscription rates (Australia only) 6 issues (6 months): $72.50 12 issues (1 year): $135 24 issues (2 years): $255 Online subscription (Worldwide) 6 issues (6 months): $52.50 12 issues (1 year): $100 24 issues (2 years): $190 For overseas rates, see our website or email silicon<at>siliconchip.com.au * recommended & maximum price only Postal address: PO Box 194, Matraville, NSW 2036. Phone: (02) 9939 3295. ISSN: 1030-2662 Printing and Distribution: 14 Hardner Rd, Mount Waverley VIC 3149 54 Park St, Sydney NSW 2000 2 Silicon Chip Editorial Viewpoint Will Arduino survive? When I heard that Qualcomm had acquired Arduino in October 2025, I immediately wondered whether they would ruin it. After all, what business does a large, closed company like Qualcomm have with a much smaller business developing open-source hardware and software? On the positive side, much of what Arduino has produced over the years, being open-source and widely available, can continue to exist regardless of what Qualcomm does. The IDE can be forked, and clones of the various boards can continue to be produced. On the negative side, Qualcomm is already known for being difficult to get information from, and they have made some worrying moves. For example, in November, Arduino updated their Terms of Service and privacy policy, forbidding (or attempting to forbid) users from reverse-­engineering Arduino platforms. The terms also state that they own anything users upload to their servers. Adafruit Industries, a major supplier of Arduino-compatible hardware, publicly questioned whether any of this was for the benefit of users and posted multiple critiques of the new terms, prompting others to chime in (see https://itsfoss. com/news/enshittification-of-arduino-begins). Qualcomm/Arduino replied by saying that people had interpreted some of the changes more broadly than intended. The problem is that doesn’t change what the legal text actually allows them to enforce. It’s also worth noting that, alongside the acquisition announcement, Arduino released the Uno Q, a new board with a Qualcomm chip aimed at AI applications: www.arduino.cc/product-uno-q It has interesting features, but I wonder how many people are getting tired of the ‘put AI into everything’ trend. How many hobbyists really want an AI-enabled Arduino? Time will tell. Ultimately, whether Arduino “survives” in the sense that matters: remaining relevant, open and community-driven, depends less on what Qualcomm does and more on how the maker community responds. The new Uno Q suggests a future where Arduino becomes a vehicle for Qualcomm’s ‘AI-at-the-edge’ ambitions. But the new restrictions that many see as incompatible with open-source hardware have already damaged trust among the very people who built Arduino’s reputation. The Uno Q is an interesting design. It uses a dual-processor architecture: a Qualcomm Dragonwing system-on-chip runs Linux alongside a more conventional STM32 microcontroller. The idea is that the Dragonwing performs tasks like AI models, computer vision or networking, while the microcontroller handles real-time I/O. It’s certainly an ambitious design, but also a striking departure from what Arduino boards have traditionally been. Old-school Unos were simple, inexpensive, and easy to understand; the Uno Q is closer to a hybrid between a Raspberry Pi and a microcontroller development board. Whether that added complexity will be genuinely useful to most Arduino users is still unclear. If that trust continues to erode, platforms like Raspberry Pi, ESP32 and other genuinely open alternatives could absorb much of Arduino’s user base – especially hobbyists and educators who value transparency and community support over corporate direction. Raspberry Pi in particular has already expanded into microcontrollers with the RP2040 and could easily step further into the space Arduino once owned. So the real question isn’t just whether Arduino will survive, but in what form. Qualcomm didn’t buy Arduino to shut it down, but whether it remains the approachable, open, community-powered platform it has been for the last two decades is far from certain. If it strays too far from those roots, others are ready to step in and fill the void. by Nicholas Vinen Cover image sources (Intel, left-to-right): www.cpu-zone.com/1101.htm | https://pixabay.com/photos/intel-8008-cpu-old-processor-3259173/ | https://w.wiki/GbkJ | https://w.wiki/GYK8 | www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/comments/1hhug73/ Australia's electronics magazine siliconchip.com.au