roadrunner84 466 Posted January 20, 2016 Share Posted January 20, 2016 So I read today that Microchip (those who make the PIC MCU) bought Atmel (those who make the ATmega MCU, used on the Arduino boards). They paid $3.6 billion (ss) to acquire the company. What will this mean for the Arduino companies (yes, there's two of them, and they do not like each other) and their maker supporter base? An ideal opportunity for TI to step in with their Launchpads! spirilis and L.R.A 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
USWaterRockets 57 Posted January 20, 2016 Share Posted January 20, 2016 Without competition, both product lines will suffer, since they will no longer have to capitalize on strengths or improve their weak areas. Maybe this will eventually be a positive for TI? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
oPossum 1,083 Posted January 21, 2016 Share Posted January 21, 2016 They have to compete with ARM M0+, M3, M4 and M7; plus many 4 and 8 bit parts from Asia. There is no lack of competition. TI has hurt themselves with poor management of their low end ARM chips (Stellaris, Tiva, MSP432). MSP430 will remain a great low power choice for quite some time. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
yyrkoon 250 Posted January 21, 2016 Share Posted January 21, 2016 More than just the ATMega . . . but I guess those arethe processors most arduino people know of. Atmel, also has the lowest powered BLE chip, which is based off Cortex M0+ I believe. Priced at $1.57 1KU, it's also pretty dahmed affordable. Anyway, Atmel also has a bunch of ARM based chips too . . . their SAM* line . . . bazuchan 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
roadrunner84 466 Posted January 22, 2016 Author Share Posted January 22, 2016 More than just the ATMega . . . but I guess those arethe processors most arduino people know of. Atmel, also has the lowest powered BLE chip, which is based off Cortex M0+ I believe. Priced at $1.57 1KU, it's also pretty dahmed affordable. Anyway, Atmel also has a bunch of ARM based chips too . . . their SAM* line . . . I know, that's exactly why I mentioned the ATmega line, because it's best know and because it's used in the maker's most favorite toy. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
greeeg 460 Posted January 22, 2016 Share Posted January 22, 2016 PIC also have a huge range of Micros. PIC10F,12F,16F,18F,24F,dsPIC,PIC32 Am I mistaken in thinking that microchip haven't moved into the ARM space yet? This is probably how they're doing it through acquiring Atmel. I personally started electronics with PICs and don't actually mind them, I then moved to Atmel and then MSP430 when the $4.30 launchpads came out. It will be interesting how this merger pans out. Will there be no new Atmel ICs? Will they become Microchip ICs? Microchip did this when the aquired SMSC, now all newly manufactured SMSC IC's are microchip branded. Would be kind of cool to see a Microchip branded Atmega. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
yyrkoon 250 Posted January 23, 2016 Share Posted January 23, 2016 PIC also have a huge range of Micros. PIC10F,12F,16F,18F,24F,dsPIC,PIC32 Am I mistaken in thinking that microchip haven't moved into the ARM space yet? This is probably how they're doing it through acquiring Atmel. I personally started electronics with PICs and don't actually mind them, I then moved to Atmel and then MSP430 when the $4.30 launchpads came out. It will be interesting how this merger pans out. Will there be no new Atmel ICs? Will they become Microchip ICs? Microchip did this when the aquired SMSC, now all newly manufactured SMSC IC's are microchip branded. Would be kind of cool to see a Microchip branded Atmega. PIC does have MIPS though, which in the context of running an OS I believe was around before ARM. Don't quote me on that though I haven't looked into it, but I do know that MIPS was around in the "early silicon valley days". In the context of Personal computers anyhow . . . Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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