# Floating-Point Units on Espressif SoCs: Why (and when) they matter

DevFeed: [Floating-Point Units on Espressif SoCs: Why (and when) they matter](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/floating-point-units-on-espressif-socs-why-and-when-they-matter-13727.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://developer.espressif.com/blog/2025/10/cores_with_fpu/>)

Author: John Lee

Published: 2025-10-13T00:00:00Z

Content type: article

Language: en

Sources: [Blog on Developer Portal](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/blog-on-developer-portal.md>)

Topics: [Espressif](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/espressif.md>), [Hardware](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/hardware.md>), [cpu](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/cpu.md>), [ESP32-S3](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/esp32-s3.md>), [ESP32-C3](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/esp32-c3.md>), [Benchmark](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/benchmark.md>), [math](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/math.md>)

Tags: [benchmark](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/benchmark.md>), [blog](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/blog.md>), [esp32](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/esp32.md>), [esp32-c3](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/esp32-c3.md>), [esp32-s3](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/esp32-s3.md>), [espressif](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/espressif.md>), [floating-point](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/floating-point.md>), [fpu](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/fpu.md>), [hardware](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/hardware.md>), [math](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/math.md>), [performance](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/performance.md>), [precision](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/precision.md>), [processor](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/processor.md>)

## AI overview

This article explains what floating-point units are, why they matter for calculations involving decimal values and wide dynamic ranges, and how they differ across Espressif SoCs. It states that the ESP32-S3 performs floating-point operations directly in hardware, while the ESP32-C3 executes them in software, and introduces a benchmark-based discussion of performance.

## Source excerpt

In this article, you'll learn what an FPU is, why it's useful, which Espressif SoCs feature one, and how it impacts performance through a benchmark.