Infineon Technologies AG and Amazon Web Services (AWS) to accelerate microcontroller (MCU) evaluation to shorten development cycles for automotive systems. As part of this collaboration, Infineon is launching a cloud-based platform for virtual evaluation of Infineon automotive MCUs, powered by AWS. The new platform removes dependency on physical hardware, helps to reduce evaluation cycles from multiple weeks to minutes, and significantly lowers evaluation cost per user, while supporting hundreds of concurrent users globally. The platform already includes Infineon’s next-generation RISC-V architecture.
“Development speed is a decisive competitive factor for the automotive industry and has become even more important with software-defined vehicles,” said Thomas Schneid, Vice President Software, Partner & Ecosystem Management at Infineon Technologies. “While hardware-dependent MCU evaluation has been a bottleneck for many engineering teams, our cloud-based platform is making it significantly easier for customers to get hands-on with our microcontrollers early in their development cycle. This is particularly helpful when evaluating entirely new MCUs such as our future RISC-V-based family.”
The new platform is based on the Virtual Engineering Workbench, an AWS open-source offering for automotive and manufacturing customers for digital toolchains, hardware virtualization, and infrastructure management. Infineon’s semiconductor expertise delivers a comprehensive, cloud-native virtual MCU evaluation experience. A browser-based interface eliminates local tool installation and provides a consistent workflow across operating systems, while isolated cloud environments help ensure users can experiment without impacting others. Users receive immediate feedback throughout their MCU evaluation journey.
The platform supports two primary workflows. Quick Mode enables rapid testing using pre-configured reference applications for immediate validation of MCU capabilities. Expert Mode provides a full in-browser virtual machine development environment, including compilation, flashing, debugging, and performance analysis, enabling experienced embedded developers to move from evaluation to deeper prototyping without locally installed tool chains.
The platform also introduces automation for Infineon product teams to package and release new MCU variants with minimal effort, making them available for customer evaluation instantly. Usage tracking provides insights into which MCUs and applications are evaluated most frequently, helping to optimize future product planning.
