IAR toolchains upscales embedded software development workflows for Renesas MCU architectures
IAR, a global leader in software solutions for embedded systems, has released new versions of its development toolchains. The IAR toolchains for Renesas RX version 5.20 and RL78 version 5.20, expand the support for these strategic architectures within the IAR’s industry-leading embedded development platform. These updates bring modern development capabilities, including CI/CD integration, cross-platform compatibility for developers working with Renesas-based microcontrollers (MCUs) for industrial, automotive, and consumer applications.
IAR has been partnering with Renesas Electronics since the 1980s. As a long-standing Renesas Alliance Partner, IAR supports more than 4,000 Renesas devices, helping embedded developers build efficient, secure, and compliant applications across the RA, RX, RL78, RZ, RH850 and RISC-V product families. This long-term collaboration continues to drive innovation and toolchain reliability for a wide range of applications.
RX and RL78 toolchains
With the new releases, the RX and RL78 toolchains are fully aligned with the IAR platform, enabling smoother integration into CI/CD pipelines and modern DevOps workflows. Developers benefit from cloud-enabled licensing models, capacity-based builds, and compatibility with leading DevOps and CI/CD solutions such as GitHub, GitLab, Jenkins, and Kubernetes.
The IAR platform also supports cross-platform development on Windows, Ubuntu, and Red Hat, with full compatibility for Docker containers, virtual machines, and self-hosted runners. This flexibility empowers distributed development teams to scale more efficiently, reduce infrastructure overhead, and streamline collaboration.
IAR’s toolchains for RX and RL78 are already available in safety-certified editions, supporting organizations in aligning with international standards such as IEC 61508, ISO 26262, and IEC 62304. To further strengthen this offering, IAR has the ambition to extend safety certification to the latest versions of these toolchains, aiming to help reduce the complexity of system certification and regulatory approvals, particularly across the automotive, industrial, and medical sectors.
As part of the IAR platform for embedded software development, these enhancements enable customers to unify development workflows across multiple architectures, including Arm (RA, RZ), RISC-V, and Renesas proprietary MCUs, while maintaining code quality, accelerating time to market, and controlling costs.
Comments
“Renesas RX and RL78 devices remain critical for customers building power-efficient, safety-critical systems,” said Thomas Andersson, Chief Product Officer of IAR. “These latest toolchain updates ensure our customers can modernize their development processes while maintaining the performance, compliance, and tool reliability they expect from IAR.”
“IAR has been a long-standing and trusted contributor in supporting our RX and RL78 architectures,” said Frank Roscheda at Renesas Electronics. “With the latest enhancements to the IAR platform, embedded developers can take full advantage of modern DevOps practices, cross-platform flexibility, and safety certification support—while continuing to build reliable and power-efficient systems based on Renesas MCUs.”
For more information about IAR’s embedded development tools, please visit https://www.iar.com/embedded-development-tools