Nordic's New Chips Aim to Democratize IoT for Mass-Market Devices

NUREMBERG, Germany – March 09, 2026 – Nordic Semiconductor, a key player in low-power wireless technology, today unveiled two new Systems-on-Chip (SoCs) designed to significantly lower the cost and complexity of building connected devices. The launch of the nRF54LS05A and nRF54LS05B expands the company's nRF54L Series, targeting the high-volume, cost-sensitive segment of the Internet of Things (IoT) market with a powerful, yet affordable, Bluetooth Low Energy (LE) solution.

The announcement, made ahead of the Embedded World 2026 conference, signals a strategic push to make advanced wireless connectivity more accessible for everyday products. These entry-level SoCs can function as the primary processor in simple devices or as a wireless companion chip in more complex systems, bringing Nordic's renowned ultra-low-power performance to a broader range of applications, including smart sensors, tracking tags, beacons, and PC peripherals.

Lowering the Barrier for Pervasive Connectivity

The introduction of the nRF54LS05A and nRF54LS05B is poised to accelerate the expansion of the IoT by directly addressing one of its biggest hurdles: cost. For years, the dream of a truly connected world has been tempered by the bill-of-materials (BOM) cost for adding wireless capabilities to simple, disposable, or mass-produced items. By optimizing for cost-efficiency while retaining core performance features, Nordic aims to break down this economic barrier.

Market analysis supports this strategic direction, with the global Bluetooth Low Energy market projected to grow from approximately $13.3 billion in 2024 to over $55 billion by 2032. This explosive growth is driven by the demand for power-efficient connectivity in sectors like consumer electronics, healthcare, and asset tracking. Nordic's new chips are perfectly positioned to capture a significant portion of this market, particularly in high-volume applications where every cent on the BOM matters. These include disposable medical sensors, affordable fitness trackers, smart retail tags, and simple home automation devices.

"With both the nRF54LS05A and nRF54LS05B, we want to give developers an easy, confident starting point," commented Øyvind Strøm, EVP of Short-Range at Nordic Semiconductor, in the official announcement. "Offering the fundamental features of our standard Bluetooth LE SoCs in combination with our software ecosystem offering ease of use, both SoCs will help level the playing field for those building lean, cost-sensitive applications." This move effectively democratizes access to a robust, reliable wireless platform, enabling smaller companies and startups to compete with established players in creating the next generation of smart products.

A Strategic Play in a Crowded Field

While Nordic Semiconductor has long been a leader in the Bluetooth LE space, the market for entry-level SoCs is fiercely competitive. Companies like Silicon Labs, NXP, and STMicroelectronics all offer compelling solutions for cost-sensitive designs. Silicon Labs' EFR32BG series, ST's STM32WB family, and NXP's K32W series each provide a range of options targeting similar applications with a focus on low power and integration.

Nordic's strategic response with the nRF54LS05A/B is a multi-pronged assault. First, it leverages the cutting-edge architecture of its new nRF54 Series, bringing a powerful 128 MHz Arm® Cortex®-M33 processor and a 4th-generation radio to a price point previously occupied by older, less capable technology. This provides developers with more processing headroom and superior radio performance, ensuring a better user experience and more reliable connectivity even in crowded RF environments.

Second, the company is banking on its formidable development ecosystem to provide a decisive advantage. By offering a clear migration path from the immensely popular nRF52 Series and pin-to-pin compatibility with other SoCs in the nRF54L family, Nordic minimizes the learning curve and redesign effort for its existing, loyal customer base. This strategic continuity is a powerful incentive for developers to stay within the Nordic ecosystem as they design products across different performance and price tiers.

The Power of a Mature Ecosystem

Beyond the silicon itself, the true strength of Nordic's offering lies in its comprehensive and mature development environment. Developers using the new nRF54LS05 SoCs gain immediate access to the nRF Connect SDK, a unified software development kit that supports Nordic's entire portfolio of wireless devices. Based on the open-source Zephyr RTOS, the SDK comes with a rich set of certified protocol stacks, libraries, drivers, and application samples, drastically reducing development time and complexity.

For the simplest designs targeted by these new chips, Nordic even offers an "nRF Connect SDK Bare Metal" option, allowing developers to create lean applications without the overhead of a real-time operating system. This flexibility ensures that developers can precisely tailor their software to the memory and processing constraints of the hardware, maximizing efficiency.

This software foundation is further enhanced by Nordic's nRF Cloud services, which provide a ready-to-use, scalable solution for device management, security, and firmware-over-the-air (FOTA) updates. This chip-to-cloud offering allows manufacturers to securely deploy, monitor, and update vast fleets of devices in the field, a critical capability for any commercial IoT product. By integrating hardware, software, and cloud services, Nordic provides a one-stop-shop that significantly lowers the barrier to entry and accelerates time-to-market. This holistic approach, combined with the company's long-standing role as a major contributor to the Bluetooth standard, builds a deep level of trust and reliability that is difficult for competitors to replicate.

A Scalable Foundation for Future Innovation

The nRF54LS05A and nRF54LS05B are more than just low-cost components; they are the entry point to a scalable and future-proof platform. The two variants are nearly identical, with both featuring 0.5 MB of non-volatile memory, but the nRF54LS05B offers 96 KB of RAM compared to the 64 KB in the nRF54LS05A, providing extra headroom for more demanding applications.

These chips represent the most accessible tier of the broader nRF54L Series, which itself is designed to offer a wide range of memory, peripheral, and performance options. This scalability ensures that a company can start with an entry-level product and later develop a more advanced version using a higher-end nRF54L SoC, all while reusing a significant portion of their software and hardware design. This strategy not only protects a customer's R&D investment but also streamlines their product roadmap.

With evaluation and development kits available now and full production slated for the third quarter of 2026, developers can begin exploring the capabilities of these new SoCs immediately. By expanding its portfolio downwards to address the foundational layer of the IoT market, Nordic Semiconductor is not just selling chips; it is laying the groundwork for a future where low-power connectivity is a ubiquitous, invisible, and affordable feature in countless devices that shape our daily lives.