Infineon introduces software support for the Matter smart home standard

Infineon Technologies has announced the introduction of software support for the newest emerging smart home standard: Matter.

The support for Matter in Infineon’s ModusToolbox Software and Tools is seen as being an important milestone in the adoption of the emerging standard and is expected to accelerate the deployment of Matter products. Many leading smart home products already use Infineon’s AIROC Wi-Fi, AIROC Bluetooth, and PSoC 6 MCU products.

Interoperability has been a barrier to the adoption of smart home products as, according to Parks Associates, 75 percent of customers purchasing a new smart home device want it to work with the existing devices in their home.

Matter – the new smart home standard from the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA) – looks to deliver improved interoperability as well as greater levels of secure connectivity. Several of today’s smart home market key ecosystem players – including Apple, Amazon, Google and Comcast – got together in 2019 to develop and promote this new standard.

Many of the 320 million smart speakers in today’s homes are likely to be updated over-the-air to support Matter, after the Matter specification has been finalised. In general, it takes years for a new standard to be impactful; new infrastructure has to be rolled out and customers have to adopt it.

The ability of devices installed in consumer’s homes to be updated over-the-air will accelerate the deployment of Matter gateways to weeks or months, rather than years, helping to create a new, large-scale opportunity for companies making Matter products.

Infineon’s software support for Matter helps two sets of companies. First, those already using Infineon’s AIROC Wi-Fi or Bluetooth and PSoC 6 MCUs will be able to leverage the new software to add Matter capability to existing products. Secondly, product companies can take advantage of this high-growth market by quickly bringing Matter-compliant products to market using Infineon’s software and broad portfolio of AIROC Wi-Fi, AIROC Bluetooth and PSoC 6 MCUs.

Infineon’s combination of software support for Matter, ModusToolbox software and tools, a broad family of AIROC connectivity chips and PSoC 6 MCUs, and its involvement in Matter open-source development means that it is in a strong position to help companies quickly bring Matter products to market.