Atmark Techno to release Armadillo-940 CPU board in 2027

Atmark Techno has announced the development of the Armadillo-940, a compact embedded CPU board scheduled for release in January 2027. The board features the NXP Semiconductors i.MX 8ULP SoC, utilizing a 28nm FD-SOI process with a heterogeneous multi-core configuration (Arm Cortex-A35 and Cortex-M33) to balance Linux application processing with real-time control via FreeRTOS.

A key feature of the new hardware is its integration with the newly developed ‘ABOS Compact Profile’ for the Armadillo Base OS. This optimized Linux configuration is designed to address rising semiconductor and memory costs by enabling efficient operation on low-capacity, low-cost SPI NAND flash memory (starting from 256MB). While the standard OS profile typically requires approximately 1GB of storage, the Compact Profile reduces the OS footprint to roughly 200MB.

Despite the reduced storage requirements, the system maintains high reliability through dual-layered bootloaders and recovery functions. It also supports containerized application environments, over-the-air (OTA) updates, and security standards compliant with ‘JC-STAR★1’. The Armadillo-940 will include 512MB of SPI NAND flash and is intended for space-constrained, battery-powered, or intermittent-operation industrial applications.