Variscite VAR-SMARC-MX95 Supports Edge AI, Industrial Automation, and Smart Vision Applications
May 19, 2026
News
Variscite, an NXP Semiconductors Platinum Partner, will release the SMARC-compatible VAR-SMARC-MX95 SoM built on NXP's i.MX 95 processor offering a scalable foundation for industrial IoT and edge AI applications. The solution is powered by up to six Arm Cortex-A55 cores running up to 2.0 GHz and accompanied by dedicated Cortex-M7 and Cortex-M33 real-time co-processors for deterministic control tasks.
Ofer Austerlitz, VP Business Development and Sales at Variscite commented, "The VAR-SMARC-MX95 will bring NXP's latest processing and AI technologies to the standardized SMARC form factor. Equally important, Variscite’s in-house manufacturing maintains tight control over production scheduling and quality validation, ensuring stable lead times and availability to its SMARC customers even when the semiconductor market is volatile.”
Integrated is an eIQ Neutron Neural Processing Unit (NPU) that will support 2 TOPS (8 eTOPS) of AI acceleration for reliable machine learning inference at the edge. For vision capabilities, the platform has an NXP Image Signal Processor (ISP) with dual MIPI CSI-2 interfaces utilized in smart camera systems, object detection, and vision-based inspection applications. An independent Safety Island architecture supports functional safety requirements.
Upon release, the SoM will have three variations that will either integrate NXP's IW610, IW611, or IW612 tri-radio wireless solutions for industrial and IoT deployments. Available is Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) for high-throughput data transfer, Bluetooth for reliable short-range connectivity, and 802.15.4 support for Thread and Zigbee protocols. According to the press release, Native Matter protocol support allows seamless communication across smart building, industrial, and edge computing ecosystems, while WPA3 and chipset-level secure boot ensure encrypted, authenticated communication for connected systems.
The VAR-SMARC-MX8M-PLUS leverages NXP's i.MX 8M Plus applications processor and highlights an on-module Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 2.0 chip with FIPS 140-3 Level 2 compliance. This makes Variscite the only SMARC vendor offering this type of security. Along with NXP's processor-level secure boot and cryptographic acceleration, the features address EU Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) requirements while safeguarding sensitive data and encryption keys.
“By combining NXP's latest i.MX applications processors with Variscite's robust SMARC platforms, customers get a jumpstart on building secure, AI-enabled industrial and IoT solutions,” said Amanda McGregor, Senior Director of Product Management at NXP Semiconductors. “The i.MX 95 delivers high-performance compute, dedicated real-time domains, and integrated AI acceleration on Variscite's scalable SMARC platform.”
The VAR-SMARC-MX95 is ideal for industrial automation, medical imaging, building management systems, and energy infrastructure applications.
For more information, visit variscite.com/system-on-module-som/i-mx-9/i-mx-95/.
Chad Cox is the Production Editor at Embedded Computing Design. His responsibilities are centered around content creation, writing and editing, and article research and development. Chad covers industry news and events and is known to interact with various industrial leaders via on-premise visits and online interviews. He is responsible for the digital footprint and dissemination of news via social media posts, advertising creation and the production of newsletters including the Embedded Computing Design’s Daily.
He is well versed in many facets of industrial computing including Edge AI, IoT, Processing, Security, Open Source, and more.
Chad graduated from the University of Cincinnati with a B.A. in Cultural and Analytical Literature and holds a master’s in education.
