Qualcomm targets edge AI with chipsets and framework
- October 16, 2024
- Steve Rogerson

Qualcomm has launched a range of IoT products enabling use-cases that create edge artificial intelligence (AI) in various industries.
The Qualcomm IQ chipsets are designed for safety-grade operating environments that extreme industrial applications with wide temperature ranges and integrated safety features demand. Additionally, the firm’s IoT framework uses chipsets from the IQ series with a combination of edge AI tools and reference applications to develop end to-end products that streamline development and deployment and improve operational efficiencies.
This shift, announced at last week’s Embedded World show in Texas, enables Qualcomm to drive industry transformation by integrating edge AI into connected devices across industries. At the show, Qualcomm introduced IoT products to address industrial requirements.
“Qualcomm is at the forefront of the digital transformation and a leader in the AI revolution across industries” said Nakul Duggal, group general manager at Qualcomm. “The IQ series is focused on bringing leading-edge AI into connected endpoints across industries. By providing our best in-class technologies from simple to complex computing, we aim to be a trusted advisor and implementer across an ecosystem of IoT industry partners, systems integrators and customers to help the whole ecosystem thrive.”
The product line and market strategy aim to help the industrial and embedded computing sectors harness the integration of AI and IoT. It begins by harnessing Qualcomm’s connectivity, energy efficient computing and AI technologies to meet the requirements of IoT verticals. These are offered in a range of application processors and connectivity chips, from simple wifi and Bluetooth to complex industrial-grade processors, and are supported by a unified software architecture that lets developers scale and customise their offerings.
Using its chipsets and unified software framework, Qualcomm is developing tailored products for diverse IoT verticals encompassing consumer devices, commercial and enterprise applications, and industrial controllers and robotics.
The IoT framework (www.qualcomm.com/products/internet-of-things/iot-solutions) helps enterprises build products that enable easy development of end-to-end applications, reduce time to implementation, and improve operational efficiencies. These all-encompassing vertical offerings feature recommended chipsets and core software, tailored reference designs, software libraries and SDKs, supplementary cloud-based services, containerisation, various microservices, and access to a network of distributors, independent hardware and software vendors, system integrators, and other partners prepared to support by developing IoT products.
Enterprises can use this developer-friendly framework to create customised products and services for various use cases, including video security and surveillance, drone services, industrial automation and inspection, and worker assistance with generative AI.
The industrial-grade chipsets are designed to meet the needs of demanding, heavy workload industrial applications. With on-device AI performance of up to 100Tops, the ability to operate in extreme operating conditions, and a suite of built-in safety features including SIL-3 support with an integrated safety controller, the IQ chipsets are purpose-built to power a range of premium, mid-tier and entry-level industrial and agricultural robots, drones, industrial inspection and automation, computer vision edge AI boxes, edge gateway analytics, and more, in a high-compute, power-efficient, and highly-tiered portfolio.
To strengthen its position in intelligence at the edge, Qualcomm (www.qualcomm.com) recently added Sequans’ 4G IoT technology (www.iotm2mcouncil.org/iot-library/news/iot-newsdesk/qualcomm-buys-sequans-4g-iot-technology) to its portfolio to support robust, low-power products for dependable and optimised cellular connectivity for industrial IoT applications.