cortex-m33 News - CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

April 2, 2026April 3, 2026 by Debashis Das - No Comments

Nuvoton NuMicro M3331 Cortex-M33 MCU features built-in ARGB LED controller, optional USB 2.0 OTG interface

Nuvoton’s new NuMicro M3331 is a series of 32-bit Arm Cortex-M33 MCUs clocked at 180 MHz that integrate an ARGB LED controller, a DSP instruction set, a single-precision FPU, and TrustZone security for smart factories, renewable energy systems, and consumer devices. In the past, we have written about other Cortex-M33 MCUs like the STM32U3B5/C5, Texas Instruments MSPM33C321A, Nordic Semi’s nRF54LM20A, and various others, but the Nuvoton M3331 series specifically features a built-in Enhanced LED Light Strip Interface (ELLSI) and up to 10 standard LLSI channels. This allows the MCU to natively support gaming ARGB Gen1 and Gen2 LED control protocols, completely offloading the CPU to run fluid, dynamic LED effects. It comes in two variants, the M3333 series and the M3334 series, with the latter adding a high-speed USB 2.0 OTG controller with an integrated PHY. NuMicro M3331 specifications: MCU core – Arm Cortex-M33 32-bit CPU @ 180 MHz with single-precision […]

March 30, 2026March 30, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

PineTime Pro smartwatch to feature dual-core Cortex-M33 MCU, 2.13-inch AMOLED, GPS, and more

Pine64 has announced progress on the PineTime Pro smartwatch, powered by a dual-core Cortex-M33 microcontroller with Bluetooth 5.2 Classic and LE and 800KB SRAM. The watch also features a 2.13-inch AMOLED display, GPS support, a heart rate monitor, and a 6-axis motion sensor. It’s an upgrade to the PineTime project unveiled in September 2019, and one of the most popular Pine64 devices thanks to open-source software projects such as InfiniTime firmware. For reference, the PineTime ships with a Nordic nRF52 Arm Cortex-M4 Bluetooth MCU with 64 KB SRAM, a 1.3-inch IPS display, and basic HRM and accelerometer. The PineTime Pro is a massive upgrade that should support a wider range of firmware. PineTime Pro specifications: SoC – Unnamed wireless MCU CPU – Arm Cortex-M33 MCU @ up to 200 MHz Memory – 800 KB SRAM Wireless – Bluetooth 5.2 Classic (BR/EDR) & Low Energy (additional Cortex-M33) Memory – 8 MB […]

March 11, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Texas Instruments MSPM0G5187 and AM13Ex MCUs integrate TinyEngine NPU for Edge AI applications

Texas Instruments MSPM0G5187 and AM13Ex are two new microcontroller (MCU) families featuring the company’s TinyEngine neural processing unit (NPU) to enable low-latency, high-efficiency Edge AI/Machine Learning inference on the chips. TI claims that the TinyEngine NPU can run AI models with up to 90 times lower latency and more than 120 times lower energy utilization per inference than similar MCUs without an accelerator. The MSPM0G5187 is a general-purpose, low-power Arm Cortex-M0+ MCU, while the AM13Ex Arm Cortex-M33 microcontroller targets real-time motor control, starting with the AM13E23019 SKU. TI MSPM0G5187 general-purpose Cortex-M0+ MCU Key features and specifications: CPU – Arm Cortex-M0+ @ 80 MHz Memory – 32 KB RAM with ECC Storage – 128 KB flash with ECC, 8 KB data flash with ECC Accelerators TinyEngine NPU for AI/ML delivering up to 2.56GOPS (Giga Operations Per Second) at 80MHz MATHACL math accelerator Peripherals USB – 1x USB 2.0 (12 Mbps) Audio […]

September 26, 2025June 23, 2026 by Debashis Das - No Comments

Nordic nRF54LM20A Cortex-M33 wireless MCU doubles the SRAM to 512 KB, increases flash capacity

Nordic Semiconductor nRF54LM20A Low Power Matter Bluetooth MCU

Nordic Semi’s nRF54LM20A is a new Cortex-M33-based high-memory wireless MCU part of the nRF54L Series with double the SRAM and higher flash capacity compared ot the nRF54L15. It targets consumer, industrial, healthcare, and smart home applications, and is especially suitable for HID peripherals and gaming devices. The SoC integrates a 128 MHz Arm Cortex-M33 core with a RISC-V coprocessor, 2 MB NVM, and 512 KB RAM, alongside up to 66 GPIOs, high-speed USB, and Nordic’s fourth-generation ultra-low-power 2.4 GHz radio supporting Bluetooth LE, Thread, Zigbee, Channel Sounding, and Matter. It offers twice the processing power, three times the efficiency, and up to 50% lower power consumption than the nRF52 Series. nRF54LM20A key specifications and comparison with other nRF54 Series SoCs: The nRF54LM20A comes in two packages: a CSP98 (3.9 x 3.7 mm) package for compact designs with 66 GPIOs, and a QFN52 (6 x 6 mm) package with 35 GPIO […]

August 29, 2025August 29, 2025 by Debashis Das - No Comments

NXP MCX A34 mixed-signal Cortex-M33 MCU delivers 17x faster math acceleration for motor control and HVAC systems

NXP has launched the MCX A34 mixed-signal Arm Cortex-M33 industrial MCU, an upgrade of the MCX A14x and MCX A15x MCUs, which were introduced in 2024. While the A14x/A15x offered Cortex-M33 cores up to 96 MHz, 128 KB Flash, 32 KB SRAM, a 12-bit ADC, the A34 scales up with a 180 MHz core, up to 1 MB Flash, 256 KB SRAM, four 16-bit ADCs (3.2 Msps), four OpAmps, a 12-bit DAC, and FlexPWM with enhanced quadrature decoding. It also features a dedicated Math Acceleration Unit (MAU) that executes trigonometric, reciprocal, and square root operations up to 17x faster than CMSIS-DSP, a SmartDMA coprocessor for offloading data transfers, and advanced security features with tamper detection and secure boot. Connectivity is also richer, with up to six UARTs, four I²C, two SPI, and a CAN FD interface. MCX A34 specifications: MCU core – Arm Cortex-M33 core clocked at up to 180 […]

August 22, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Renesas RA4C1 Arm Cortex-M33 MCU targets Smart Meters and energy-efficient IoT applications

Renasas RA4C1 microcontroller (MCU) group is based on an 80-MHz Arm Cortex M33 core and designed for utility meters and battery-powered IoT applications. It’s especially suited to devices that require advanced security and segment LCD support, such as smart locks, thermostats, building controls, and industrial user interfaces. The RA4C1 is very similar to the Renesas RA4L1 MCU designed for HMI applications, but it comes with more RAM (96KB vs 64KB), and being optimized for Smart Meters lacks features like capacitive touch and audio output. The new MCU group still comes with up to 512KB code flash, 8KB data flash, plenty of I/Os, and a low-power consumption down to 168 µA/MHz in active mode, and a standby current of less than 1.79 µA with all SRAM retained. Renesas RA4C1 specifications: MCU core – Arm Cortex-M33 Armv8-M core up to 80 MHz Memory – 96 KB SRAM Storage 256 KB or 512 KB […]

August 4, 2025August 4, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Renesas RZ/G3E Arm Cortex-A55/M33 MPU targets mid-range HMI systems requiring AI acceleration

Renesas RZ/G3E is a new member of the company’s RZ/G SoCs with a quad-core Cortex-A53 application processor, a Cortex-M33 real-time core, and an Ethos-U55 NPU for mid-range, AI-enhanced HMI (Human Machine Interface) systems with up to two 1920 x 1080 resolution displays. The industrial-grade processor features MIPI-DSI, dual-link LVDS, and Parallel RGB display interfaces, 2D and 3D graphics accelerators, H.264/H.265 video decoding, a 4-lane MIPI CSI interface, two gigabit Ethernet interfaces, 2-lane PCIe Gen3, USB 3.0/2.0, and a range of analog and digital I/Os. Renesas RZ/G3E specifications: CPU Dual- or quad-core Arm Cortex-A55 processor clocked at up to 1.8 GHz Arm Cortex-M33 system management processor clocked at up to 200 MHz GPU – Arm Mali-G52 3D GPU, Image Scaling Unit (ISC), Frame Data Processor (FDP) VPU – H.264/H.265 Video codec unit (VCD) NPU – Optional Arm Ethos-U55 NPU clocked at up to 1 GHz (512 GOPS) Memory 512KB on-chip SRAM […]

July 2, 2025July 3, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Renesas R8P1 – A 1 GHz Arm Cortex-M85 microcontroller with Ethos-U55 NPU for Audio and Vision AI applications

Renesas has introduced its most powerful Cortex-A85 microcontroller to date: the R8P1, clocked at 1 GHz and equipped with a 500 MHz Arm Ethos-U55 NPU for edge AI applications, as well as an Arm Cortex-M33 real-time core clocked at 250 MHz. With a 2D GPU, MIPI DSI and parallel RGB display interfaces, MIPI CSI and parallel camera interfaces, and I2S and PDM audio interface, the Renesas RA8P1 is mainly designed to address Voice AI and Vision AI applications requiring real-time analytics. The 1 GHz microcontroller also has plenty of other peripherals and security features, as we can see from the specifications and block diagram below. Renesas RA8P1 specifications: MCU core Arm Cortex-M85 clocked at 1 GHz with Helium MVE (M-Profile Vector Extension) with 32KB I/D caches; 7300+ CoreMarks Arm Cortex-M33 clocked at 250 MHz with 32KB I/D caches GPU – 2D drawing engine NPU – Arm Ethos-U55 NPU delivering 256 […]