Cheap IoT Chips Might be An Impossibility

IoT is expected to cover 50 billion devices by the year 2020. So how is it related to the SoC segment (system on a chip)? A SoC is a unique circuit that integrates all the functions of an electronic device on a single chip. Here, a single chip substrate holds and performs digital, radio frequency, analog and even mixed-signal functions.

It is the kind of chip embedded developers need for IoT. As of now, these chips do not exist but even if and when they are developed, they won’t cover the full needs of the system. Currently, every IoT chip maker is working inside a niche or two where they hope to make a decent contribution. This means, they realize the limitations of IoT chips.

When we can’t create an IoT SoC device, how can we create a supercheap IoT chip running a large number of functions? So it is a fraud concept and embedded designers must not fall prey to this fallacy.

There is another reason why a super cheap chip is an improbability. To create such a chip, you will have to sacrifice important factors like security and WiFi connectivity. To put it simply, you cannot have everything on a supercheap chip. Moreover, a standalone IoT device might not be problem but with an increase in complexity, like when the device has to be connected to another device, there will surely be problems.