TOKYO, Japan, Oct 22, 2025 – Renesas Electronics Corporation has introduced the RA8M2 and RA8D2 microcontroller (MCU) groups, expanding its RA8 Series portfolio. Built on a 1 GHz Arm Cortex-M85 processor and an optional 250 MHz Cortex-M33, the new MCUs deliver up to 7,300 CoreMark. The optional cortex-M33 processor enables task segregation for industrial, consumer, and IoT applications.
The RA8D2 and RA8M2 MCUs are part of the second generation of Renesas’s RA8 series. The RA8M2 devices serve general-purpose devices, while the RA8D2 models include graphics peripherals. Both are manufactured using the same 22-nm ULL process as the RA8P1 and RA8T2 devices. The MCUs are available in single- and dual-core versions and are designed for compute-intensive applications. Using the Arm Cortex-M85 processor and Arm’s Helium technology, they enhance performance in digital signal processing (DSP) and machine learning (ML) workloads.
The RA8M2 and RA8D2 devices use embedded MRAM, which offers advantages over Flash memory. MRAM provides high endurance and data retention, faster writes, and does not require an erase cycle. It is also byte-addressable with lower leakage and manufacturing costs. SIP options with 4 MB or 8 MB of external Flash are available for application support. Both MCUs include gigabit ethernet interfaces and a 2-port TSN switch for industrial networking applications.
The RA8M2 and RA8D2 microcontrollers combine the performance of the Cortex-M85 core with integrated memory and peripherals for IoT and industrial applications. An optional Cortex-M33 core manages background tasks while the Cortex-M85 core remains in sleep mode, activating only for compute-intensive tasks to lower system power consumption.
“The RA8M2 and RA8D2 complete Renesas’ new generation of RA8 MCUs, purpose-built for the high-performance microcontroller market,” said Daryl Khoo, vice president of the embedded processing marketing division at Renesas. “This portfolio empowers Renesas to deliver scalable, secure and AI-enabled embedded processing solutions that accelerate customer innovation and time-to-market across a broad spectrum of industrial, IoT and select automotive applications. Renesas’ commitment to innovation is reflected in the RA8 Series’ ability to address complex processing requirements while maintaining lower power consumption and minimizing total cost of ownership to future-proof customers’ designs.”
RA8D2 Feature Set Optimized for Graphics and HMI Applications
The RA8D2 MCUs provide features for graphics and HMI applications:
- Graphics LCD controller supports up to 1280×800 displays with both parallel RGB and 2-lane MIPI DSI interfaces
- Two-dimensional drawing engine offloads the graphics rendering tasks from the CPU and supports graphics primitives
- Multiple camera interface options enable camera and vision AI applications,
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- 16-bit camera interface (CEU) with support for image data fetch, processing and format conversion
- MIPI CSI-2 interface offers a low pin-count interface with 2 lanes, each up to 720MbpS
- A VIN module performs vertical and horizontal scaling and format and color space conversions of YUV and RGB data inputs received from the MIPI CSI-2 interface
- Audio interfaces such as I2S and PDM support digital microphone inputs for audio and voice AI applications
- Graphics solution with embedded graphics GUI packages from SEGGER emWin and Microsoft GUIX, integrated into Renesas’ FSP
- Software JPEG decoder optimized for Helium, available with both emWin and GUIX solutions, allows decode of JPEG images with up to 27fps graphics performance with Helium acceleration
- Multiple graphics ecosystem partners such as Embedded Wizard, Envox, LVGL and SquareLine Studio are offering solutions that employ RA8D2 using Helium to accelerate graphics functions and JPEG decoding
Key Features of the RA8M2 and RA8D2 Group MCUs
- Core: 1 GHz Arm cortex-M85 with Helium; optional 250 MHz Arm cortex-M33
- Memory: Integrated 1MB MRAM and 2MB SRAM (including 256KB TCM for the cortex-M85 and 128KB TCM for the M33). 4MB and 8MB SIP devices coming soon
- Analog Peripherals: Two 16-bit ADC with 23 analog channels, two 3-channel S/H, 2-channel 12-bit DAC, 4-channel high-speed comparators
- Communications Peripherals: Dual gigabit ethernet MAC with DMA, USB2.0 FS Host/Device/OTG, CAN2.0 (1Mbps)/CAN FD (8Mbps), I3C (12.5Mbps), I2C (1Mbps), SPI, SCI, Octal serial peripheral I/F
- Advanced Security: RSIP-E50D cryptographic engine, secure boot with FSBL in immutable storage on-chip, secure debug, secure factory programming, DLM support, tamper protection, DPA/SPA protection
The RA8M2 and RA8D2 microcontrollers are supported by Renesas’ Flexible Software Package (FSP). The FSP includes infrastructure software like real-time operating systems (RTOS), BSP, peripheral drivers, middleware, connectivity, networking, and security stacks. It also provides reference software for AI, motor control, and cloud solutions. Customers can integrate existing code and use RTOS (FreeRTOS and Azure RTOS) with FSP and Zephyr. The FSP simplifies migration from previous designs to the new RA8 Series devices.
Winning Combinations
Renesas has combined the RA8 group MCUs with other compatible devices from its portfolio to offer an array of Winning Combinations, including the Smart Glasses and Pet Camera Robot for the RA8M2, and both Ki Wireless Power Transceiver System (Tx) and Ki Wireless Power Receiver System (Rx) for the RA8D2. Renesas offers over 400 Winning Combinations that help customers accelerate design and reduce time to market.
Availability
The RA8M2 and RA8D2 group MCUs are available along with the FSP software. The RA8M2 devices are available in 176-pin LQFP, 224-pin and 289-pin BGA packages. The RTK7EKA8M2S00001BE evaluation Kit is also available. The RA8D2 MCUs are offered in 224-pin and 289-pin BGA packages. The RTK7EKA8D2S01001BE evaluation Kit supports the RA8D2 devices.
Source: Renesas Electronics
About Renesas Electronics
Renesas Electronics Corp., based in Tokyo, supplies power management integrated circuits (PMICs) and ships more than 1.5 billion power devices annually for computing, industrial, IoT, data center, and communications markets. Its portfolio includes PMICs, discrete devices, GaN power products, and design tools such as PowerCompass and PowerNavigator. These work with microcontrollers, SoCs, and connectivity solutions to support system design. The company was formed in 2010 through the merger of Renesas Technology and NEC Electronics, with origins in semiconductor units of Hitachi, Mitsubishi, and NEC. For the fiscal year ending Dec. 31, 2024, Renesas reported revenue between $9B and $10B.