2 ms·
I've in no way surveyed the whole wifi mcu market. But wasn't the "beginnings" of Espressif in the western world that it was a cheap wifi mcu that was at the ti
by Crosseye_Jack 2y ago
I've in no way surveyed the whole wifi mcu market. But wasn't the "beginnings" of Espressif in the western world that it was a cheap wifi mcu that was at the time very popular in cheap Chinese wifi enabled products.
The DIY market (at least in the west) came later. I still remember reading the hackaday article about them being discovered back in the day - https://hackaday.com/2014/08/26/new-chip-alert-the-esp8266-wifi-module-its-5/ https://hackaday.com/2014/08/26/new-chip-alert-the-esp8266-w... and back then all the documentation was in Chinese.
I remember a ton of cheap Chinese wifi enabled stuff would come with an esp for a good while, until even cheaper wifi chips hit the market.
- looofooo0 2y agoI think they made it DIY friendly in China first.
- mystified5016 2y agoThe biggest factor (IMO) is that during the pandemic chip shortages, about the only WiFi/BT module in stock anywhere was espressif. They consistently had stock when no one else did, so a lot of home hackers got into it. As our industry is so fond of forgetting and rediscovering, if your product is easy and accessible to home hackers, it will be used in those hackers' real jobs. But also they're so goddamn cheap. Espressif somehow scaled production super fast and got the price way below any of the competition.