How Beken Leverages Arm to Pioneer Low-Power AI and Wireless Connectivity

Imagine a smart door lock that recognizes your face in under 200 milliseconds—securely, locally, and without draining battery life. That’s just one-fifth of a second—virtually instant to the human eye. Or AI toys that respond in real time using natural voice interactions. At the heart of these breakthroughs is Beken Corp.’s latest chip, the BK7259, a powerhouse of ultra-low power AI processing built for the edge.

A global leader in wireless connectivity and Wi-Fi microcontrollers, Beken is pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in smart devices, leveraging Arm’s Ethos-U65 NPU and Cortex-M cores. 
 
As AI and IoT converge, Beken isn’t just adapting—it’s shaping the future of intelligent connectivity.  

Beken’s AI Edge Apps Feature Low Power Consumption

Headquartered in Shanghai, China, Beken is a leading innovator in Wi-Fi microcontrollers (MCUs) and wireless connectivity for IoT. With expertise in RF-CMOS design and digital signal processing, Beken delivers high-performance, low-power SoC solutions that drive next-generation connected devices. 

Serving global leaders like Amazon, AT&T, LG, Samsung, and Sony, Beken generates over 1 billion RMB in annual revenue and holds a dominant market share in IoT Wi-Fi and China’s national ETC standard chips, shaping the future of wireless technology. 

Recognizing the growing demand for AI-driven edge applications, Beken has expanded into smart devices and intelligent systems. Its latest innovation, the BK7259, integrates multiple Ethos-U65 NPU and Arm Cortex-M cores, delivering fast, efficient AI processing for edge applications. 

A key differentiator of the BK7259 is its industry-leading low power consumption. Its Wi-Fi keep-alive mode draws less than 50 microamps, setting a world record for efficiency. This advancement enables battery-powered, always-connected AI devices, making edge AI more viable than ever. Beken also capitalizes on Arm’s robust AI ecosystem, utilizing CMSIS-NN and the Vela compiler to streamline AI model deployment and accelerate solution development. 

As AI and IoT continue to converge, Beken remains at the forefront of innovation, enabling scalable, power-efficient AI solutions that drive the future of intelligent connectivity. 

Empowering Development with Arm’s Ecosystem

Beken’s adoption of the Ethos-U65 NPU has been pivotal, offering access to open-source algorithms and AI development tools. The broad Arm developer ecosystem provides extensive support, enabling Beken to optimize AI workloads efficiently. The growing open-source AI community further enhances development by fostering collaboration and innovation at the edge. 

Optimizing AI Inference for Smart Devices and Intelligent Systems 

One critical AI function in smart devices is real-time audio processing. Tasks like echo cancellation, noise suppression, and environmental noise filtering require both accuracy and efficiency. With the Ethos-U65 and Arm’s inference library, Beken optimizes these functions for low-power, real-time execution. 

Beken has also prioritized RTOS (Real-Time Operating Systems) over traditional Linux-based AI processing because of its potential for enabling efficient, low-latency applications. 

Balancing Power Efficiency with High-Performance AI

Balancing performance and power efficiency is one of AI’s biggest challenges—especially at the edge. Beken has tackled this head-on by focusing on low-power, high-performance solutions like the BK7259. 

Built on a dual-domain AI architecture, the BK7259 combines the efficient M52 core for lightweight tasks and the high-performance M55+U65 for more demanding AI workloads. Unlike typical market configurations, this setup includes the advanced U65 NPU, delivering robust processing power for complex neural networks. 

This architecture allows for flexible workload allocation—for example, routing low-power audio tasks to the M52 and running video analytics on the M55+U65—while enabling hierarchical wake-up strategies to reduce both idle and active power consumption. The result: a solution that meets the strict performance and energy demands of modern edge AI. 

By integrating low-power Wi-Fi transceivers with AI compute, the BK7259 ensures real-time AI execution with minimal energy impact, making it an ideal platform for next-generation edge intelligence. 

Leveraging Wireless Expertise for Smarter Devices 

Beken’s expertise in Wi-Fi connectivity has played a critical role in its expansion into robotics. The company has developed Wi-Fi 4 to Wi-Fi 6E solutions that provide reliable connectivity while maintaining low power consumption. 

For IoT applications, stable wireless connectivity is essential for real-time data transmission and processing. Beken optimizes system-level operations to ensure reliable AI-driven decision-making while minimizing energy consumption. 

Robust Security Architecture 

The Beken system achieves PSA Certified Level 2 by implementing a multi-layered security strategy built on Arm TrustZone technology. This creates a hardware-isolated secure processing environment, further strengthened by dedicated components such as a Crypto Accelerator for efficient encryption and PUF OTP for generating unique device keys and secure storage. 

To ensure a standardized and robust security foundation, we use Trusted Firmware-M (TF-M), Arm’s open-source secure OS implementation. Together, these integrated hardware and software features enable our platform to meet the rigorous requirements of PSA Certified Level 2. 

Balancing Edge Processing and Cloud Connectivity for AI Applications 

Beken’s shift from IoT chip design to AI-driven smart devices presented several technical challenges, including hardware-software integration, low power consumption, and seamless cloud connectivity. AI applications require a balance between edge processing and cloud resources, ensuring reliability and minimal latency. 

For example, smart locks with AI-powered facial recognition need real-time local processing rather than relying on cloud servers. The BK7259’s integration of the Ethos-U65 NPU enables fast, energy-efficient authentication, providing high-speed recognition without compromising security. 

Real-World AI Applications Powered by Beken

Beken’s chips power a range of AI-driven applications, showcasing the fusion of AI, wireless connectivity, and power efficiency in next-generation smart devices. 

• AI Toys – Interactive smart toys, from interactive robots to talking action figures, combine cloud and edge AI to deliver rich, multimodal experiences blending voice recognition with visual understanding. These toys can “think” on their own—processing voice interaction on the device side with ultra-low latency, making toys truly “understand and speak”. 

• Smart Door Locks – Advanced facial recognition enables local authentication in under 200 milliseconds. Powered by the Ethos-U65 NPU for fast face detection and a dedicated ISP for clear imaging in low-light conditions, the system also features an H.264 codec for efficient video compression, plus a 2.5D GPU and DPU for high-quality graphical displays. Together, these components ensure smooth video streaming and responsive user interaction. 

These use cases demonstrate how Beken’s technology brings intelligent, efficient performance to everyday AI applications. 

The Future of AI and IoT  

Beken envisions a future where smart devices transition from basic remote-control functions to intelligent, autonomous interactions. AI will play a greater role in automating decision-making, reducing user intervention, and enhancing smart home experiences. 

To achieve this, Beken is developing a comprehensive range of Wi-Fi microcontrollers, from simple control units to AI-intensive processing cores. These solutions will drive seamless AI integration in home automation, predictive maintenance, and next-generation smart appliances. 

Driving AI Innovation in Partnership with Arm

Beken’s partnership with Arm has been instrumental in its AI evolution. Arm’s power-efficient CPU and NPU architectures, coupled with its extensive AI software ecosystem, have provided a strong foundation for edge AI innovation. 

One key advantage is Arm’s investment in RTOS for edge AI applications, which aligns with Beken’s long-term vision. As AI at the edge continues to advance, Arm’s ongoing innovation in power-efficient AI computing will further enhance Beken’s capabilities and accelerate industry-wide adoption. 

Advancing Edge AI with Power-Efficient Computing 

Beken’s journey from wireless connectivity to AI-driven applications highlights the importance of power-efficient, high-performance computing. By leveraging Arm’s ecosystem, optimized semiconductor IP, and advanced AI processing, Beken is pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in smart devices and IoT. 

As edge AI adoption continues to grow, Beken remains committed to developing AI-powered solutions that balance energy efficiency, performance, and intelligent automation—ushering in the next era of smart connectivity and AI innovation.