NXP i.MX 94 octa-core Cortex-A55/M33/M7 processor targets Edge AI industrial and automotive applications

NXP i.MX 94 is an octa-core Arm SoC with up to four Cortex-A55 application cores, two Arm Cortex-M33 real-time/functional safety cores, two Arm Cortex-M7 real-time/functional safety cores, and an NXP eIQ Neutron NPU designed for Edge AI industrial and automotive applications

I initially thought it would be a cost-down version of the NXP i.MX 95, and while it shares many of the same features, it’s more an application-specific processor designed specifically for industrial and automotive applications, lacking a 3D GPU, camera input interfaces, a MIPI DSI display interface, and 10GbE networking, but increasing the number of real-time cores (at the cost of application cores) and adding several networking features such as an Ethernet time-sensitive networking (TSN) switch, 2.5GbE interface, an Ethercat controller, and support for industrial protocols like Profinet or OPC-UA FX.

NXP i.MX 94 specifications:

CPU
- Up to 4x Arm Cortex-A55 cores
- 2x Arm Corex-M7 cores, one for functional safety, the other as a real-time MCU
- 2x Arm Cortex-M33 cores, one for functional safety, the other as a real-time MCU
GPU – No 3D GPU, 2D HW compositor
AI accelerator – NXP eIQ Neutron NPU with 0.5 TOPS of performance
Memory I/F
- 3.5 MB OCRAM with 1.5 MB colocated with 1x M33 and Ethernet Switch
- Up to 4.2GT/s x32 LPDDR5/LPDDR4 with Inline ECC
Storage I/F
- 3x SD 3.0/SDIO3.0/eMMC 5.1
- 2x Octal SPI including support for SPI NOR and SPI NAND memories
Display I/F – 1x 4-lane LVDS up to 1080p60
Camera I/F – No camera interfaces
Audio
- 3x I2S TDM (Tx/Rx)
- 8-channel PDM microphone input
Networking
- 3-port TSN switch with up to 2.5 GbE on 2-ports
- 3x GbE TSN MACs
- 2-port EtherCAT Sub-Device controller mux-ed with TSN switch
- Industrial multiprotocol support (Profinet, Ethernet/IP, OPC-UA FX…)
USB – 1x USB 3.0 + 1x USB 2.0
PCIe – 2x PCIe Gen 3 1x lane
Serial
- 3x CAN-FD
- 8x UART
Other peripherals
- 6x I2C, 6x SPI, 1x I3C
- 4x 16-pin FlexIO interfaces
- Functional safety/low-power domain I/Os:
  - 2x UART, 2x SPI
  - 2x I2C, 1x I3C
  - 1x CAN-FD
  - 1x I2S TDM
  - 8-ch, 12-bit ADC
Security & Safety
- NXP EdgeLock Secure Enclave (Advance Profile) with EdgeLock Accelerator (Prime) including V2X authentication
- Functional safety to enable ISO 26262 ASIL-B for automotive and SIL-2/SIL3 IEC 61508 for industrial platforms
- Secure boot, secure debug, and secure update of the processor based on post-quantum cryptography
Misc – 2x DMA, 3x watchdogs, periodic timer, 2x timer/PWM, 2x timers, secure JTAG
Packaging
- 19×19 mm2, 0.75 mm pitch FCBGA
- 15×15 mm2, 0.5 mm pitch FCBGA
Temperature Range – -40 ºC to 125 ºC
Process – 16nm FinFET (CNXSoft: just an assumption since NXP i.MX 95 is built on that process)

The NXP i.MX 94 will support Linux on the Cortex-A55 cores, and a range of real-time operating systems namely Zephyr, FreeRTOS, Greenhills Integrity, QNX Neutrino, and VxWorks on the Cortex-M33/M7 cores. The company also mentions its “Real-Time Edge” software framework to enable developers to realize designs with an optimal combination of real-time and application-level tasks running across any of these cores. The eIQ Neutron NPU will support the implementation of predictive maintenance and operator guidance in real-time as well as defects scanning and machine diagnostics through the eIQ machine learning software development environment.

With support for traditional serial fieldbus protocols such as Profibus, Modbus, CANopen, and IO-Link, as well as Ethernet-based real-time networking protocols, such as Profinet, EtherCAT, Ethernet/IP, CC-Link, and more, NXP says the new i.MX 94 Arm SoC will be found in industrial controllers, programmable logic controllers (PLCs), telematics, industrial and automotive gateways, and building and energy control systems.

The NXP i.MX 94 industrial and automotive SoC family is expected to begin sampling in Q1 2025. Additional information may be found on the product page and the press release.

Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)

Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.