Where is the industry heading?

Question

Electronics

A lot of time has passed since I was a student - then atmel and pic were popular, now atmel is absorbed by microchip. I heard that STMicroelectronics microcontrollers are popular, who are the leaders in the microcontroller market in terms of market share, and who are the leaders in terms of technology? The second question - did I understand correctly that now everyone has switched to 32-bit arm cpu and the trend is such that microcontrollers will approach processors in mobile devices in terms of capabilities, but keeping the price and power consumption low?

Answer 1

1) The electronics industry is huge. To say that right away the whole world jumped on 32-bit armies is a lie. It's more accurate to say that popular bloggers with machine gun performance are churning out articles about stm32 at the level of "blinking the ice".
2) From a developer's point of view, a microcontroller is a tool. Each tool must be appropriate for the task and be fully understandable to those who use it. I do not want anyone to start learning with STM32 - confusing documentation and a library that consists of macros that call macros, except for motion sickness during many hours of scrolling in an attempt to get to the bottom of the truth, does not cause any emotions.
2.a) 32bit linux monster in the washer - (and washer control written in python, in trend of time) is crazy. Because, together with Linux and Python, it will bring along a bunch of bugs at all levels, the need for updates and other administration. If it still rolls on the phone (seven troubles - one reset, and after a couple of years the device is in the trash), then in the washer, one incorrectly recorded bit can cause a flood or even a slight destroy. Therefore, when it comes to the management of some technological processors (and liability), the industry will be conservative.
The basic principles of electronics now are the maximum stuffing of peripherals into one chip. This trend can be traced back to the 1970s - they started with huge boards, where the processor is separate, the memory is separate, the ADC is again separate, a bunch of cases for decoupling devices on the bus, and so on. Gradually, all these parts began to fit into one building. For example - ESP8266 is a processor, memory, wi-fi and a bunch of other peripherals tucked into one case.
This reduces power consumption, improves performance, and reduces the cost of boards.

Answer 2

The industry is moving towards 4nm.
This implies: speed, efficiency, functionality and cost.
Considering that I still cannot load 100% (with my tasks) Atmel 328, it is clear that the use of 32-bit controllers for MY task is not advisable.
That is, "algorithmically" everything will remain as it is, but the Size and Price will decrease. The speed, on the contrary, will multiply.