The new pricing model aims to support OEMs in the development phase and provide greater flexibility to high-volume manufacturers
Foundries.io, a subsidiary of Qualcomm Innovation Center, Inc. (QUIC), has announced a new tiered pricing scheme for its FoundriesFactory™ platform, aimed at making it more accessible to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in the early stages of developing Linux-based and Edge AI products.
The initiative seeks to eliminate entry barriers for startups and individual developers while offering more favorable conditions for large-scale manufacturers using FoundriesFactory in production and device fleet management.
A strategic shift in the subscription model
Until now, Foundries.io operated under a fixed annual fee, but effective immediately for new customers, the service is adopting a monthly subscription system for the Professional Edition, which is aimed at developers in the process of creating their own hardware.
This model allows OEMs to design devices based on a wide range of compatible SoCs, including processors from Intel, Texas Instruments, NXP Semiconductor, and Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.
Pre-revenue startups will have access to reduced prices at the start of their product development, while a new free Community Edition will offer a version with limited features for the maker community and individual developers, allowing them to evaluate the service risk-free.
Once a product transitions from development to production, manufacturers can migrate to the Production Edition, where the cost per device drops to zero at higher volumes. For companies requiring more control over their infrastructure, the Enterprise Edition offers the option of a private cloud instance to manage their assets with complete autonomy.
A boost for the adoption of FoundriesFactory
The new pricing scheme represents a key opportunity to broaden the adoption of FoundriesFactory within the embedded Linux product developer community.
George Grey, Vice President of Technology at Qualcomm Technologies International, Ltd, highlighted the impact of this evolution:
“The FoundriesFactory service has proven to be a powerful tool for OEM developers utilizing the Yocto Project in the development of embedded and Edge AI products, accelerating their time to market and reducing costs. With this new pricing model, more Linux-based product developers will be able to build, connect, and update their designs with FoundriesFactory at a lower cost.”
Greater accessibility for the developer community
With this initiative, Foundries.io aims to attract a global community of developers who are already working with the Linux and container ecosystem but have not yet had the opportunity to experience the professional DevSecOps environment of FoundriesFactory for embedded devices.
More information about the new service editions and their pricing is available on the official Foundries.io website.
Additionally, the FoundriesFactory service on Qualcomm Dragonwing™ RB3 Gen 2 hardware will be showcased at the Foundries.io stand 4A-133 at Embedded World, taking place in Nuremberg, Germany, from March 11 to 13, 2025.
About Foundries.io
In April 2024, Foundries.io Ltd was acquired by Qualcomm Innovation Center, Inc. (QUIC). The company plays a key role in QUIC’s offering for the embedded computing industry, providing expertise in the development and deployment of open source software and supporting its clients in bringing products with Linux distributions to market.