Hsinchu, Taiwan – Nuvoton Technology officially launches its latest generation AI microcontroller, the NuMicro® M55M1, specifically designed for edge applications such as AI data recognition and intelligent audio. Positioned as a rare entry-level AI solution in the market, the M55M1 integrates an NPU delivering up to 110 GOPS of AI computing power, providing over 100 times the inference performance compared to traditional 1GHz MCUs. Paired with Nuvoton’s self-developed NuML Tool Kit, it enables developers to quickly get started with AI applications in a familiar MCU development environment. A variety of AI models are also available for trial, including face recognition, object detection, audio command recognition, and anomaly detection, effectively lowering the technical barrier and accelerating product deployment.
To meet diverse AI application scenarios, the M55M1 is a 32-bit microcontroller based on the Arm® Cortex®-M55 core, equipped with Arm® Ethos™-U55, offering up to 110 GOPS of computing power and a built-in Helium™ vector processor. Compared to Arm’s existing DSPs, it delivers up to 15 times higher performance. To address AI model requirements, it provides up to 1.5 MB of RAM, 2 MB of Flash, and supports external HyperRAM/OctoSPI expansion. The M55M1 not only features powerful computing capabilities and a flexible architecture but also offers a highly integrated development environment. Through the NuML Tool Kit, developers can easily port AI models to the M55M1 platform using familiar MCU firmware development methods. This architecture is suitable for a wide range of edge AI applications, such as predictive maintenance analysis for factory equipment, analysis for various home appliances and medical sensing devices, as well as endpoint AI applications like keyword spotting, echo cancellation, and image recognition.
On the general MCU operation side, the M55M1 is equipped with a Cortex-M55 core running at up to 220 MHz and offers five low-power modes. It also supports a wide range of peripherals, including CCAP, DMIC, I2C, SPI, Timer, UART, ADC, and GPIO, all of which can operate in low-power modes. In addition, the M55M1 features multi-level security mechanisms, including secure boot, Arm TrustZone®, a hardware crypto engine, and Arm PSA Certified™ Level 2 compliance, providing reliable protection for IoT and embedded applications.
The M55M1 also comes with a rich set of peripherals, including:
- 1 set of Ethernet
- 1 set of USB HS OTG (with PD function)
- 1 set of USB FS OTG
- 1 set of I3C
- 2 sets of CAN-FD
- 1 set of 8-bit parallel camera interface (CCAP)
- 1 set of microphone input (DMIC)
- 2 sets of SD card interfaces
- 3 sets of ISO-7816-3
- Multiple I2S, QSPI, I2C, and UART interfaces
Analog peripherals include 2 sets of 12-bit ADCs, 2 sets of 12-bit 1 Msps DACs, and 4 sets of analog comparators (ACMP), meeting a wide range of application needs.
For development tool support, Nuvoton provides the NuMaker-X-M55M1D development board, the NuML Tool Kit AI development tool, and the Nu-Link debugging tool. In addition, it supports commonly used development environments such as Keil MDK, IAR EWARM, and Eclipse IDE with GNU GCC.
The NuMicro® M55M1 series supports three package options:
- LQFP64 (7 x 7 mm)
- LQFP128 (14 x 14 mm)
- LQFP176 (24 x 24 mm)
For more information, please visit: https://www.nuvoton.com/products/microcontrollers/arm-cortex-m55-mcus/m55m1-series/
