Swiss firm ST Microelectronics has acquired edge AI software specialist Cartesiam.

STM is acquiring the French company’s assets including its IP portfolio and will transfer and integrate its employees. Closing is subject to regulatory approvals.

Cartesiam, based in Toulon, is a software company founded in 2016, and specialises in artificial intelligence (AI) development tools enabling machine-learning and inferencing on Arm-based microcontrollers. Its team includes data scientists and embedded signal processing experts, with experience in delivering standard and custom products.

Its flagship NanoEdge AI Studio allows embedded systems designers without prior knowledge in AI to develop specialised libraries integrating machine-learning algorithms directly into a broad range of applications. Devices leveraging Cartesiam’s technology are already in production around the world including inside connected devices, household appliances and industrial machines.

This acquisition, STM says, reinforces its AI strategy and strengthens its technology portfolio to address the full spectrum of embedded machine-learning needs. NanoEdge AI Studio is complementary to STM’s STM32Cube AI toolset and should provide STM customers with flexibility to integrate machine-learning into their products.

“Using artificial intelligence to create ever smarter solutions is one of the priorities of our customers regardless of their size or industry,” said Claude Dardanne, president of STM’s microcontrollers and digital ICs group. “With STM32Cube AI, ST Microelectronics already offers the ability to map and run pre-trained artificial neural networks on our broad portfolio of STM32 microcontrollers. The addition of Cartesiam’s machine-learning technology to ST Microelectronics’ existing solutions will provide the best edge-AI portfolio on the market for any customer looking to bring additional innovation to their offering.”