Pierluigi Passaro (Variscite) and Robert Thompson (NXP) Discuss Supply Chain Resilience and CRA Readiness at Embedded World 2026

At Embedded World 2026, Pierluigi Passaro, Variscite’s R&D expert, spoke with Robert Thompson from NXP to discuss two forces accelerating a shift already well underway in embedded product development: ongoing component supply chain pressures and the Cyber Security Resilience Act. As long-standing development partners, Variscite and NXP continue to advance their collaboration around the i.MX 9 processor family – helping product teams reduce complexity and bring differentiated products to market faster.

Pierluigi: Hi Robert, great to see you again at Embedded World.

Robert Thompson: Great to be here, as always.

Pierluigi: A lot of customers are navigating the ongoing memory and mass storage shortage. Variscite’s response has been to secure its own production lines and supply chain directly. In your view, does that approach give product teams a strong reason to choose a SoM over a chip-down design?

Robert Thompson: Memory shortages are affecting everyone, but what they’re really doing is accelerating a trend we’ve tracked for several years – particularly in i.MX 9 adoption. More and more customers are stepping back and evaluating their product development strategy as a whole. When they do, the value of working with a partner like Variscite becomes obvious: you’re not just getting a hardware platform, you’re getting the system-level solution. That frees the product team to focus entirely on the differentiated parts of their application. The supply constraints and pricing volatility we’re seeing today are speeding that shift across the entire embedded market.

Pierluigi: Variscite and NXP have a long partnership, and we carry the broadest NXP-based SoM portfolio in the industry. How does that range of options help customers migrate across technology generations and stay well-positioned?

Robert Thompson: The move away from chip-down is continuing, and the Cyber Security Resilience Act is one of the strongest drivers right now. The CRA is built on four requirements: designing with security in mind, vulnerability assessment and over-the-air update capability, interoperability and compatibility, and incident reporting. For a product company focused on its own end customers, managing all four in-house adds significant burden to the development cycle. By adopting a Variscite System on Module based on NXP technology, customers get CRA readiness built in. They don’t need to parse the regulation themselves – they get a platform that addresses every major requirement from the start, and they can move forward with confidence.

Pierluigi: That’s a meaningful advantage for any team under development pressure. Thank you for joining us, Robert.

Robert Thompson: Always a pleasure. Thank you.

Variscite’s broad NXP-based SoM portfolio gives product companies a practical path through today’s supply chain complexity and regulatory demands. With component sourcing managed in-house and platforms built to meet CRA requirements, development teams can focus on what delivers real value – the product itself.

Explore Variscite’s full NXP-based SoM portfolio here.