BlackBerry and AMD To Collaborate on New Robotics Platform

Shares of BlackBerry (BB) jumped in intraday trading Tuesday as the provider of intelligent security and software services and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) announced a collaboration aimed at boosting performance, reliability, and scalability for robotic systems in industry and healthcare.

The companies explained they would develop an affordable and powerful platform to address what they called “‘hard’ real-time capabilities in robotics-focused hardware.”

The system will combine BlackBerry’s QNX platform with AMD’s Kria K26 system on module (SOM) circuit. 

Grant Courville, VP of Product & Strategy at BlackBerry QNX, said the partnership’s product will “ensure that critical robotic tasks are executed with the same level of precision and responsiveness every single time.” He added that’s important for those carrying out finely tuned operations, “such as the fast-growing industries of autonomous mobile robots and surgical robotics.” 

BlackBerry shares rose 5.6% to $3.04 as of 1:30 p.m. ET Tuesday but are down almost 12% in 2024. Shares of Advanced Micro Devices, which were down 0.6%, have turned bearish over the last month but still have risen almost 22% this year.