ST’s New STM32V8 Cortex-M85 MCUs Reach 800 MHz on 18 nm FD-SOI

STM32V8/STM32V863 Arm Cortex-M85 AI MCU

The STM32V863/873 are ST’s new high-performance MCUs based on an 800 MHz Arm Cortex-M85 core and built on an 18 nm FD-SOI process. It targets edge AI, industrial control, advanced HMI, and real-time applications that require high compute density and radiation-tolerant embedded NVM.

The STM32V863/873 integrates up to 4 MB eNVM, 1.5 MB ECC SRAM, zero-wait-state TCM, a Chrom-ART 2D GPU, JPEG acceleration, LCD-TFT output, and a parallel camera interface. Additionally, it integrates Gigabit Ethernet with TSN, USB HS/FS with PHYs, I3C/I2C/UART/SPI peripherals, 12-bit ADC/DAC, motor-control timers, GPDMA/HPDMA, and security blocks such as TrustZone, secure storage, SAES/AES, and anti-tampering, among others.

STM32V8/STM32V863 Block Diagram

ST Micro STM32V863/873 Specifications

• CPU: Arm Cortex-M85 core running up to 800 MHz, featuring Arm Helium/MVE extensions and TrustZone; delivers around 5,072 CoreMarks
• Graphics / Acceleration:
  • 2D Chrom-ART engine
  • Dedicated JPEG codec
• On-chip Memory:
  • 1.5 MB system SRAM with partial ECC
  • 192 KB TCM with zero wait states
  • Up to 512 KB ECC-enabled TCM
  • 8 KB backup RAM
  • Up to 4 MB embedded NVM (two 2 MB banks with ECC)
  • Additional 128 KB ×2 data NVM
  • 256 KB system NVM
• External Storage Interfaces:
  • Hexa-SPI and Octo-SPI
  • Dual SD/SDIO/MMC ports
  • Flexible memory controller for DRAM, NOR, and NAND devices
• Display Output:
  • TFT controller supporting 600×480 using internal memory
  • Up to 1280×800 when external RAM is used
  • Chrom-GRC display controller
  • HDMI-CEC support
• Camera Input: 16-bit parallel camera interface
• Audio I/O:
  • 2 × SAI
  • 4 × I2S (shared with SPI pins)
  • S/PDIF receiver
  • MDF block with six filters, plus ADF
• Networking: 1 Gbps Ethernet with Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN) features
• USB:
  • USB High-Speed
  • USB Full-Speed with integrated PHY
  • USB-C Power Delivery controller (UCPD)
• Serial / Peripheral Interfaces:
  • 3 × I2C
  • 2 × I3C
  • 5 × USART, 5 × UART, 1 × LPUART
  • 3 × FD-CAN
  • 6 × SPI (four can operate as I2S)
• Analog:
  • 3 × 12-bit ADC
  • 12-bit DAC
  • Internal temperature sensor
• Timers and Control Blocks
  • 3 motor-control timers
  • High-resolution timer
  • 10 general-purpose 16-bit timers
  • 5 low-power 16-bit timers
  • 4 general-purpose 32-bit timers
  • 2 watchdog timers
  • FMAC and CORDIC accelerators
• Debug / Trace
  • SWD and JTAG
  • ETM (planned)
• DMA: GPDMA and high-performance DMA engines
• Power Management:
  • On-chip SMPS
  • Dedicated LDO for RAM blocks
• Security Features:
  • Hardware unique ID
  • Secure storage (HUK)
  • (STM32V873) STiRoT secure boot/upgrade
  • AES/SAES cryptography
  • Secure debugging options
  • On-the-fly XSPI encryption/decryption
  • Anti-tamper support
  • Designed for SESIP3 and PSA Level 3
• Package Options:
  • 68-pin VQFN (8×8 mm)
  • 100-pin LQFP / TFBGA
  • 144-pin LQFP
  • 176-pin LQFP
  • 176+25-pin UFBGA (10×10 mm)
  • 273-pin TFBGA (14×14 mm)
• Operating Temperature: -40°C to +140°C

STM32V863/873 Development Tools

The STM32V8 series works with the existing STM32 development ecosystem, including STM32Cube tools, middleware, and HAL/LL drivers. It also integrates with ST’s Edge AI toolchain, such as NanoEdge AI Studio, STM32Cube.AI, and the ST Edge AI developer cloud for model conversion and optimization. The MCU supports common ML formats like TensorFlow Lite, ONNX, Keras, PyTorch, and MATLAB, and will be accompanied by the upcoming STM32V8-DK and Nucleo-V8 boards for firmware development and evaluation.

Total of Twenty-four STM32V8 variants with 2 MB or 4 MB eNVM and packages from 68-pin VQFN to 273-pin TFBGA.

Until now, Renesas was the sole supplier of Cortex-M85 MCUs with its RA8 lineup, but the STM32V8 series marks STMicroelectronics’ entry into this class of high-performance microcontrollers.

At the time of writing, the ST’s STM32V863/873 Cortex-M85 MCUs are not available for purchase, and OEM availability is planned for Q1 2026, with wider commercial availability expected shortly afterward. Pricing has not been disclosed yet and will be provided closer to launch. More information is available on the products and press release page.

STM32 portfolio as of November 18, 2025

Images used courtesy of STMicroelectronics