Renesas Launches New MCUs for High-Speed Precision Applications

Renesas Delivers New Motor Control MCUs with Industry-Leading Performance and High-Speed Networking Interfaces 

New RA8T2 Devices Address the Needs of High-End Factory Automation and Robotics

TOKYO, Japan, September 25, 2025 ― Renesas Electronics Corporation (TSE:6723), a premier supplier of advanced semiconductor solutions, today introduced the RA8T2 microcontroller (MCU) group for high-end motor control. Based on a 1 GHz Arm^® Cortex^®-M85 processor with an optional 250 MHz Arm^® Cortex^®-M33 processor, the RA8T2 devices deliver an unmatched level of performance to address real-time control of high-end motors in industrial equipment, robots, and other systems where high-speed precision operation is required. The optional Cortex-M33 processor enables customers to combine real-time control with communication functions and non-real-time operations on a single chip, saving cost, power and board space.

The RA8T2 MCUs take advantage of the high performance of the Arm Cortex-M85 processor and Arm’s Helium™ technology to offer a significant performance boost for digital signal processor (DSP) and machine learning (ML) implementations. This added performance enables AI functions that can predict maintenance requirements for motors, reducing costly downtime.

In addition to their exceptional processing power, the RA8T2 MCUs provide high-speed networking support through multiple communications interfaces, including two Gigabit Ethernet MACs with DMA, a two-port EtherCAT slave, and many others. High-speed communication is critical in factory automation, where each device is linked to a network within the factory, and is constantly synchronized with other machines to send and receive commands and data.

RA8T2 devices are equipped with up to 1MB of high-speed MRAM (Magnetoresistive Random Access Memory) non-volatile memory with 100 MHz access. MRAM offers faster write speeds along with higher endurance and retention compared with Flash. In addition, RA8T2 is equipped with a TCM (Tightly Coupled Memory) with 256KB for Cortex-M85 and 128KB for Cortex-M33. TCM provides users with high-precision real-time performance with less jitter and can provide stable performance in motor control processing with many interrupts and branches.

“The RA8T2 Group extends our long-term industry leadership in motor control solutions, offering unparalleled levels of performance and functionality,” said Daryl Khoo, Vice President of the Embedded Processing Marketing Division at Renesas. “These devices showcase the breadth and depth of our technology and demonstrate our deep understanding of what our motor control customers need to build next-generation factory automation and robotics products.”

Feature Set Optimized for Motor Control

The new RA8T2 devices include a timer function that supports PWM functionality up to 300 MHz and enables easy handling by control software and efficient waveform generation for driving inverters. The complementary PWM function of the GPT timer, optimized for inverter drive, makes it easy to implement control algorithms, such as the output of complementary PWM for multiple phases (including single-phase and three-phase), automatic insertion of dead time, generation of asymmetric PWM, and linkage with AD and comparators. The timer is also equipped with a phase-counting function, making it possible to control AC servos that require axis position information using a two-phase pulse encoder. The RA8T2’s ADC has 16-bit resolution and a channel-specific sample and hold function (three channels), enabling high-precision simultaneous sampling of three-phase current values. This eliminates the need for correction processing, reducing the software load and contributing to improved control precision. Equipped with two units, it is possible to simultaneously sample three-channel currents of two motors. The Port Output Enable (POEG) and high-speed comparator function allows the PWM output to be quickly shut off when an overcurrent is detected. The shutoff state can be selected (Hi-z, Hi, Low) according to the inverter specifications.

Renesas Leadership in Embedded Processing for Motor Control

Renesas has shipped motor-control specific MCUs for over 10 years ago. The company ships over 230 million motor control embedded processors per year to thousands of customers worldwide. In addition to multiple RA MCU groups, Renesas offers motor-control specific devices in its 32-bit RX Family, its 16-bit RL78 MCUs and its 64-bit RZ MPUs. Renesas also introduced the industry’s first RISC-V-based ASSP designed for motor control.

Key Features of the RA8T2 Group MCUs

• Core: 1 GHz Arm Cortex-M85 with Helium and TrustZone; Optional 250 MHz Arm Cortex-M33
• Memory: Integrated 1MB high-speed MRAM and 2MB SRAM (including 256KB TCM for the Cortex-M85 and 128KB TCM for the M33)
• Analog Peripherals: Two 16-bit ADC with 30 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, EtherCAT slave, 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, immutable storage for FSBL, secure debug, secure factory programming, DLM support, tamper protection, DPA/SPA protection
• Timers: 14-ch PWM timers, 4-ch high-resolution, 4-ch low-power timer (16-bit x2ch and 32-bit x2ch)
• Packages: 176-HLQFP, 224- and 289, and 303-BGA

The new RA8T2 Group MCUs are supported by Renesas’ Flexible Software Package (FSP). The FSP enables faster application development by providing all the infrastructure software needed, including multiple RTOS, BSP, peripheral drivers, middleware, connectivity, networking, and security stacks as well as reference software to build complex AI, motor control and cloud solutions. It allows customers to integrate their own legacy code and choice of RTOS with FSP, thus providing full flexibility in application development. Using the FSP will ease migration of existing designs to the new RA8 Series devices.

Winning Combinations

Renesas has combined the new RA8T2 Group MCUs with numerous compatible devices from its portfolio to offer a wide array of Winning Combinations, including the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). Winning Combinations are technically vetted system architectures from mutually compatible devices that work together seamlessly to bring an optimized, low-risk design for faster time to market. Renesas offers more than 400 Winning Combinations with a wide range of products from the Renesas portfolio to enable customers to speed up the design process and bring their products to market more quickly. They can be found at renesas.com/win.

Availability

The RA8T2 Group MCUs are available now, along with the FSP software. The new MCUs are supported in Renesas’ Flexible Motor Control development kit that enables easy evaluation of motor control using permanent magnet synchronous motors (brushless DC motors), and the Renesas Motor Workbench development tool. This development kit offers a common design platform with numerous Renesas motor control MCUs from the RA and RX families, enabling migration of IP across numerous devices. Information on all these offerings is available at renesas.com/RA8T2.

Renesas MCU Leadership

The world leader in MCUs, Renesas ships more than 3.5 billion units per year, with approximately 50% of shipments serving the automotive industry, and the remainder supporting industrial and Internet of Things applications as well as data center and communications infrastructure. Renesas has the broadest portfolio of 8-, 16- and 32-bit devices, delivering unmatched quality and efficiency with exceptional performance. As a trusted supplier, Renesas has decades of experience designing smart, secure MCUs, backed by a dual-source production model, the industry’s most advanced MCU process technology and a vast network of more than 200 ecosystem partners. For more information about Renesas MCUs, visit renesas.com/MCUs.