Nordic Semiconductor launches nRF71 chips with Wi‑Fi, Bluetooth LE and optional AI accelerator
Nordic Semiconductor announced the nRF71 Series on November 3, 2026, offering low‑power chips that integrate Wi‑Fi, Bluetooth LE, Thread, a host processor and optional on‑device AI. The first two parts, the nRF7120 and nRF7120E, combine dual‑band Wi‑Fi 6 (the latter adds 6 GHz Wi‑Fi 6E) with a 2.4 GHz multiprotocol radio and a 256 MHz Arm Cortex‑M33 processor plus a 256 MHz RISC‑V coprocessor.…
Key points
- Nordic unveiled nRF7120 and nRF7120E chips that merge Wi‑Fi, Bluetooth LE, Thread and optional AI accelerator on a single package.
- Standby power is up to 20 times lower than the previous nRF70 series; connected current is 14 µA (2.4 GHz) and 8 µA (5 GHz).
- Axon NPU in nRF7120E runs ML models 10‑17 times faster than the Cortex‑M33, supporting keyword spotting, anomaly detection and image classification.
The nRF7120E includes the Axon neural processing unit, which Nordic claims runs machine‑learning models 10‑17 times faster than the Cortex‑M33 alone, enabling keyword spotting, anomaly detection and image classification on battery‑powered devices. Both chips provide 4 MB non‑volatile memory and 1 MB RAM, support Matter, NFC and can run sensor‑fusion or audio models locally. Nordic is sampling the chips with selected customers and plans FCC, CE and Japan certifications, but general availability has not been announced.
Nordic Semiconductor Combines Wi-Fi and Edge AI in nRF71 Chips
Unite.AI · 3 November 2026
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