Alif Semiconductor Introduces New Low-Cost StartKit platform for its Edge AI Enabled Ensemble and Balletto Microcontrollers
- New Low-Cost, small-form-factor StartKit enables access to hardware-accelerated, battery-powered on-device AI/ML inferencing for everyone.
- The StartKit family of boards will be available for Alif's Ensemble devices (SK-E1C) and the BLE wireless Balletto family (SK-B1).
- MSRP for StartKit boards is $49
PLEASANTON, Calif., Sept. 8, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Alif Semiconductor®, a leading global supplier of secure, connected, power-efficient Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML) microcontrollers (MCUs) and fusion processors, today launched a new family of Low-Cost evaluation boards for its Edge AI-enabled Ensemble® and Balletto® Microcontrollers. The SK-B1 and SK-E1C StartKits lower the barrier of entry to true low-power, on-device AI/ML inference.
Each StartKit ships with the respective MCU series superset configuration, which combines a 160MHz Arm® Cortex®-M55 CPU core with Helium™ vector processing extension for faster DSP performance, an Ethos™-U55 NPU delivering up to 2 orders of magnitude faster inference performance than running the same workload on a traditional MCU core, 2MB of tightly coupled SRAM and MRAM, and all IOs available through expansion headers offering customers flexibility to add connectors for only the interfaces that are needed.
Simplicity for evaluation and development
In addition to 44-pin dual-row expansion headers defined by Alif that expose all MCU functions, the StartKit platform also supports multiple de facto standard expansion headers, such as Arduino R3 for shields and MikroE Click™ for sensor and audio add-ons. The StartKit platform also includes high-speed USB devices on micro-B for data, USB-C for power, a tri-color LED, user button, and clearly labeled current-sense jumpers. The BLE wireless SK-B1 also includes a tuned chip antenna and RF filter network. Developing and debugging on the StartKit platform is made seamless by the inclusion of SEGGER's J-Link® On-Board debugger.
"At Alif, we truly believe that adding intelligence to embedded devices is the way of the future", said Mark Rootz, VP of Marketing at Alif Semiconductor. "In 2021 we introduced the first NPU-enabled microcontrollers to the market, and with today's introduction of the StartKit platform, we are making this next-generation technology accessible to everyone."
To learn more about the SK-B1, please visit www.alifsemi.com/SK-B1 To learn more about the SK-E1C, please visit www.alifsemi.com/SK-E1C
About Alif Semiconductor
Alif Semiconductor is the leading provider of Next-Generation, AI-Enabled 32-bit microcontrollers that combine scalability, high compute performance with exceptional power efficiency. Alif's Ensemble and Balletto product families redefine what is possible at the edge by delivering on-device acceleration for AI, advanced security, rich functional integration, and flexible operating system support within ultra-low-power, small form-factor designs. By unifying compute, connectivity, and intelligent processing in a single architecture, Alif empowers developers to build the future of smart, always-on devices across consumer, industrial, and enterprise applications.
For more information, visit www.alifsemi.com.
SOURCE Alif Semiconductor
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