Google and Synaptics unveil open-source AI chips for wearables and industrial devices

Google and Synaptics have introduced an open-source, low-power edge AI microcontroller built for devices that never get to plug into a wall for long. The chip belongs to Synaptics’ Astra SL2610/SL2600 series. It targets wearables, smart glasses and industrial sensors. What’s inside the chip The microcontroller combines several pieces of hardware into one platform. Google contributes its open-source Coral NPU “M2,” which includes a vector processor. Synaptics adds its own Torq NPU, Arm CPU cores and multimedia processing capabilities. The design is built for simultaneous multimodal processing, handling voice, vision, motion and contextual sensing tasks at the same time. The headline power figure is the most striking one. Average on-device inference draws less than 6 milliwatts, according to the research findings on the chip. Performance claims also position the Coral NPU as a leader on efficiency. It reportedly delivers approximately 40% lower energy use compared to prevailing edge AI processors. Timeline and the open-source angle The partnership itself was announced in January 2025, combining Google’s Coral NPU with the Astra SL2610 series. Developer platforms, including the Coralb...