Nordic Semiconductor simplifies edge AI for billions of IoT devices

Nordic Semiconductor, a global leader in low-power wireless connectivity solutions, is bringing AI intelligence and functionality to the smallest battery-powered IoT devices. With an industry-leading, ultra-low-power Edge AI solution, Nordic accelerates the arrival of a new generation of devices with integrated edge AI intelligence - combining energy efficiency with unmatched ease of use for developers.

• nRF54LM20B – New ultra-low-power, large-memory wireless SoC with Axon NPU
• Custom Neuton models – Industry-leading, ultra-tiny edge AI models
• Nordic Edge AI Lab – Development tool, simplifying and accelerating edge AI development

“AI factories train intelligence, but Nordic deploys it – on device, at the edge, where the world happens - said Vegard Wollan, CEO at Nordic Semiconductor. “Edge AI is no longer optional – it’s the only way to deliver safety, privacy, and sustainability at scale.  Nordic’s edge AI solution enables millisecond decisions without round-trip latency to the cloud, ensures compliance through local processing, and delivers radically improved battery life for billions of connected devices. This is the new standard for ultra-low-power edge AI and Nordic is defining it.”

Next-generation nRF54LM20B with Axon NPU  

In 2023, Nordic acquired Atlazo and its Axon technology. The nRF54LM20B SoC is the first large-memory member of the nRF54L Series, integrating the Axon Neural Processing Unit (NPU), an ultra-efficient AI hardware accelerator, to supercharge demanding edge AI workloads. Axon delivers up to 7 times faster performance and up to 8 times higher energy efficiency versus competing solutions for tasks such as sound classification, keyword spotting, and image-based detection. 

The nRF54LM20B SoC pairs the Axon NPU with 2 MB NVM, 512 KB RAM, a 128 MHz Arm® Cortex-M33 plus RISC-V coprocessor, high-speed USB, up to 66 GPIOs, and Nordic’s fourth-generation ultra-low-power 2.4 GHz radio supporting Bluetooth® LE, Bluetooth Channel Sounding, Matter over Thread, and more.