Texas Instruments has quietly introduced the MSPM33C321A, an Arm Cortex-M33 mixed-signal microcontroller running at 160MHz with an impressive array of analog and digital peripherals. The chip packs up to 1MB of flash with ECC and 256kB of SRAM, but what sets it apart is its dual 12-bit SAR ADCs capable of sampling at 9.4MSPS, making it particularly suited for high-speed signal processing applications.
The microcontroller includes TrustZone security, FPU, and DSP extensions, along with a comprehensive set of communication interfaces including dual CAN-FD, multiple UART/SPI/I2C ports, QSPI for external memory, and dual I2S/TDM audio interfaces supporting 16-slot TDM. A separate VBAT power domain provides RTC functionality, tamper detection I/O with timestamps, and an independent watchdog timer. Power consumption sits at 207µA/MHz during active operation and drops to just 16µA in standby with 64kB SRAM retention, falling to under 100nA in shutdown mode. The chip operates across a wide temperature range from -40°C to 125°C (-40°F to 257°F).
Texas Instruments has not officially announced the MSPM33C321A, with news of the chip surfacing through a LinkedIn post from a TI senior applications engineer. The company also offers a smaller variant, the MSPM33C3219, with 512KB of flash. Development is supported through the MSPM33 SDK and Code Composer Studio IDE.
The LP-MSPM33C321A LaunchPad development kit is available now for $20 (€18), featuring an onboard XDS110 debug probe, 80-pin BoosterPack headers, a Mikrobus connector, and provisions for ADC evaluation. The MSPM33C321A microcontrollers themselves start at $2.81 (€2.59) per unit in quantities of 1,000 for the 100-pin package.
