Nyquest NY8A051H - 1.5 cent microcontroller : weekend die-shot

If you were surprised to see 10-cent microcontroller - Nyquest Technology NY8A051H pushes price expectations much, much further down: Its high-volume pricing is just 1.5 cents, and it is currently the cheapest microcontroller in the world* (cheaper than Padauk, the holder of the previous record). I had to order a whopping 20pcs as a minimum order, and it was still under $1. Please note that despite its name - it is not 8051-compatible.

For these 1.5 cents, you don't get much: 1k words of OTP memory and 48 bytes of SRAM, but this might be just enough for many simple applications. And if you need even less and would like to save another fraction of a cent, Nyquest offers a range of simpler 4-bit MCUs.

Die size 497x418 µm. This is where 20pcs minimum order came in handy : the first 2 dies were lost as I was not expecting the die to be this small. A single 300mm wafer could fit 337,000 NY8A051H microcontrollers. It is truly an economic marvel how one is able to manufacture, test, package, and sell microcontrollers at this price point. It is barely larger than a simple BJT.

* in stock at LCSC.