Nordic Semiconductor has unveiled the nRF71 Series, a family of ultra-low-power systems-on-chip that brings Wi-Fi, Bluetooth LE, Thread and on-device AI onto a single chip. The main gain is power: in standby the series uses up to 20 times less energy than current-generation nRF70 Wi-Fi products. That is the figure that could make Wi-Fi practical in battery-powered devices, which until now had to trade connectivity for battery life.
The Oslo-based company describes the series as a platform for billions of intelligent devices that must run for years on a battery. Kjetil Holstad, EVP Wi-Fi and Power Management at Nordic, says the power budget of Wi-Fi was a barrier for many products. With nRF71, he says, Nordic is bringing Wi-Fi and edge AI onto the same ultra-low-power platform already used for Bluetooth LE.
AI inference on one chip
AI inference can now run on a single chip with no external AI processor, with fewer components and faster responses. The chip includes an Axon Neural Processing Unit (NPU) that runs machine learning models 10 to 17 times faster than the 256 MHz Arm Cortex-M33 processor alone. Keyword spotting, anomaly detection and image classification are within reach. For very small models that developers build from their own data, Nordic's Neuton software can run on the processor alone. Model updates are delivered over the air through nRF Cloud.
Two radios in parallel
The single-chip design relies on two independent radios: a Wi-Fi radio and the 2.4 GHz multiprotocol radio from the latest nRF54 Series. Both receive at the same time, so a device can keep its Wi-Fi connection to the cloud while listening for Bluetooth LE or Thread traffic, without either protocol waiting for the other. According to Nordic's technical documentation, the series inherits the nRF54L system architecture, with hardware security and the coprocessor framework.
The first variants
The first two models are the nRF7120 and nRF7120E. The former offers dual-band Wi-Fi 6; the latter adds tri-band Wi-Fi 6E and the Axon NPU for hardware-accelerated AI. Both include 4 MB of on-chip non-volatile memory and 1 MB of user-accessible RAM. Target applications include battery-powered smart home hubs, Matter bridges or Thread border routers, smart locks, security panels, wearables and industrial sensors.
Image: newelectronics.co.uk — https://www.newelectronics.co.uk/content/product-launches/nordic-launches-nrf71-series-bringing-edge-ai-to-battery-powered-wi-fi-devices
A Nordic-branded module will be shown at Electronica, in Hall C6, booth 159. Partner u-blox has separately announced the ALMA-W1 module series, based on the same nRF7120 and nRF7120E chips, with configurable antenna and memory options and support for Wi-Fi 6/6E, Bluetooth LE and 802.15.4.
Availability
The nRF71 Series is already sampling with a selected group of customers. Developers can contact their Nordic sales representative for availability.
The context is a market where battery devices want always-on connectivity without sacrificing autonomy. Bringing Wi-Fi and AI onto one chip, with standby consumption this low, is the point that could shift designers' choices toward this family.
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