IN Brief:
- Infineon Technologies is launching a cloud-based virtual platform for automotive MCU evaluation, powered by AWS.
- The platform supports browser-based workflows, Quick Mode testing, Expert Mode development, and next-generation RISC-V evaluation.
- Software-defined vehicles are increasing pressure on MCU evaluation, tool access, and early software development before hardware availability.
Infineon Technologies is working with Amazon Web Services to launch a cloud-based platform for virtual evaluation of Infineon automotive microcontrollers, cutting early assessment cycles from multiple weeks to minutes.
The platform is designed to remove dependency on physical hardware during the earliest stages of MCU evaluation. It supports hundreds of concurrent users globally and already includes Infineon’s next-generation RISC-V architecture, giving selected customers earlier access to future microcontroller families before conventional hardware evaluation flows would usually begin.
Built on AWS Virtual Engineering Workbench, the system uses a cloud-native environment for digital toolchains, hardware virtualisation, and infrastructure management. A browser-based interface removes local tool installation, supports consistent workflows across operating systems, and provides isolated environments so that users can compile, test, and experiment without disrupting other evaluation sessions.
Two workflows are included. Quick Mode enables rapid testing through pre-configured reference applications, allowing users to validate MCU capabilities with minimal setup. Expert Mode provides a full in-browser virtual machine development environment, including compilation, flashing, debugging, and performance analysis. That gives embedded teams a path from initial device comparison into deeper application prototyping without waiting for local boards, debuggers, or toolchain configuration.
Infineon product teams will also be able to package and release new MCU variants into the platform with reduced manual effort, making devices available for customer evaluation more quickly. Usage tracking will show which MCUs and applications are being evaluated most frequently, adding feedback for future product planning and support priorities.
The platform will be available to selected Infineon customers in the third quarter of 2026, with wider rollout planned afterwards. Its automotive focus reflects the changing role of the microcontroller inside modern vehicle platforms, where MCUs are increasingly bound into software-defined architectures, zonal electronics, security functions, real-time control, and long lifecycle support.
RISC-V adds another dimension to the evaluation challenge. Automotive adoption of new processor architectures depends on tooling, software support, safety evidence, security capability, compiler maturity, and developer confidence, not only silicon availability. Virtual access allows teams to begin software assessment, training, reference-application testing, and architectural comparison before physical devices are distributed more widely.
Embedded engineering has been moving steadily towards earlier virtualisation. The same direction was visible across embedded systems, RISC-V, automotive cybersecurity, and software-defined vehicle discussions at Embedded World 2026, where hardware selection, software compliance, and development ecosystems were tightly linked. Infineon’s platform turns that shift into a practical customer-access model for MCU evaluation.
Physical validation remains unavoidable. EMC performance, timing under real loads, board-level integration, analogue behaviour, thermal conditions, power integrity, and environmental robustness still require hardware. A virtual MCU platform can, however, move software bring-up, architecture comparison, training, and early application development further forward, reducing the idle period between device interest and meaningful engineering work.
The same convergence is visible in adjacent robotics and industrial platforms. Infineon’s work with VinRobotics has shown how microcontrollers, power semiconductors, sensors, connectivity, safety, and security technologies are being combined into broader machine platforms through integrated electronics stacks. Automotive systems face similar integration pressure, with each MCU decision tied to software maintenance, functional safety, cybersecurity, and long-term availability.
Cloud-based evaluation also changes how semiconductor suppliers introduce product variants. Automotive MCU portfolios now span multiple performance levels, safety requirements, peripheral sets, security capabilities, and application domains. Making those variants accessible in a controlled virtual environment reduces friction in early customer engagement while generating clearer data on which devices, examples, and workloads are drawing attention.
The approach will not remove the need for evaluation kits or final silicon validation, but it changes the order in which engineering work can begin. As software-defined vehicle programmes compress schedules and distribute development across global teams, browser-based access to realistic MCU evaluation environments gives Infineon a faster route into design decisions that previously waited on hardware logistics.
