Renesas Launches RX72M MCUs with Built‑In EtherCAT for Industrial Automation

Renesas Electronics has unveiled the RX72M series of RX microcontrollers (MCUs), the first in the RX family to feature an integrated EtherCAT slave controller. The new flagship product line delivers a high‑performance, single‑chip solution with ample memory, enabling industrial equipment such as compact robots, PLCs, remote I/O units and gateways to perform advanced control and Ethernet communication without additional components.

The RX72M’s 240 MHz core scores 1,396 on the EEMBC CoreMark benchmark, demonstrating the ability to handle both application logic and real‑time EtherCAT traffic on the same silicon. By integrating motor‑control and EtherCAT functions into one device, manufacturers can cut bill‑of‑materials costs and meet the miniaturization demands of modern industrial systems.

Key memory specifications include 1 MB of on‑chip SRAM – the largest in any RX MCU – and 4 MB of internal Flash, configured as two 2 MB banks. The generous SRAM lets the MCU run multiple memory‑intensive middleware stacks such as TCP/IP, web servers, and file systems at full speed without external memory. The dual‑bank Flash allows one bank to run the main program while the other performs background firmware updates, ensuring continuous operation.

Beyond current applications, the abundant on‑chip memory provides a future‑proof platform for expanding features like OPC UA, all without adding external memory. The RX72M series therefore offers a reliable, scalable foundation for industrial Ethernet‑based automation.