ArmSoM is known for designing and manufacturing development boards and embedded solutions for a range of use cases that range from multimedia and IoT to AI and industrial applications.

We have covered a few of their products here at It’s FOSS, and they have generally been a good pick so far. Their flagship SBC lineup is the Sige series, which has so far shipped with Rockchip silicon.

The Sige6 is the first to break from that, swapping the Rockchip for an Allwinner chip, targeting use cases like AI inference, edge computing, cloud computing, and mini PC builds.

📝 ArmSoM Sige6: Key Specifications

three views of the armsom sige6 board are shown here, top, back, and side (ports)

The Sige6 runs on the Allwinner A733, a 12nm octa-core chip with two Cortex-A76 cores at 2.0 GHz and six Cortex-A55 cores at 1.8 GHz. ArmSoM went with this SoC because they had to tackle certain pain points.

They point to three gaps in the SBC market. Boards either skip AI hardware entirely or bolt it on as a pricey add-on, entry-level and mid-range options are often stuck on older LPDDR4 or DDR3 memory, and the boards that are powerful enough to avoid those pitfalls tend to draw too much power for an always-on setup.

The A733 covers all three and then some without cutting down on capability.

Moving on to the GPU, it is an Imagination BXM-4-64 MC1, with support for OpenGL ES 3.2, Vulkan 1.3, and OpenCL 3.0, and there’s also a 3 TOPS NPU for AI acceleration workloads.

The RAM goes from 2 GB up to 16 GB of LPDDR5, with eMMC storage options of 32 GB, 64 GB, and 128 GB.

The rest of the specs include:

  • VPU (decode): H.265/VP9/AVS2 up to 4K@60fps; H.264 up to 4K@30fps
  • VPU (encode): H.264/H.265 up to 4K@30fps
  • Storage (extra): SPI Flash (64 Mb to 256), microSD slot, and M.2 Key M (PCIe 3.0, 2-lane) for NVMe SSDs.
  • Networking: 1x Gigabit Ethernet (PoE via external HAT), Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.4, and external antenna connector.
  • Video Output: 1x HDMI 2.0 (4K@60fps), 1x 4-lane MIPI DSI
  • Camera: 1x 2-lane + 1x 4-lane MIPI CSI
  • USB: 1x USB 2.0, 1x USB 3.1, 1x USB Type-C (OTG/Power)
  • Audio: 1x audio jack, 1x HP-OUT
  • Expansion: 40-pin header (GPIO, UART, SPI, I2C, PWM)
  • OS Support: Debian, Android 13; Armbian (third-party)
  • Dimensions: 89 mm × 56 mm
  • Weight: 47.2 g

With the 3 TOPS NPU and hardware video decoding up to 4K@60fps, the Sige6 can handle lightweight AI inference at the edge as well as media server and digital signage workloads.

The M.2 slot with PCIe 3.0 gives it room for fast NVMe storage, and the PoE-capable Ethernet port makes it a decent fit for network appliance builds too.

Moreover, ArmSoM has also committed to keeping the Sige6 in production through January 2036, which is worth noting for anyone deploying it in a long-running setup.

🛒 Get the ArmSoM Sige6

You will have to wait until August to get your hands on one, when the Sige6 should be available to purchase from the official store and from third-party retailers like Aliexpress and Taobao.

For OEMs and ODMs, they will need to get in touch with the company via email at sales@armsom.org to procure units.

Suggested Read 📖: ArmSoM Sige7 Review

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