Nordic Semiconductor has expanded its nRF54L Series with the nRF54LC10A, an entry-level multiprotocol SoC for small, cost-sensitive connected products. Bluetooth LE, Bluetooth Channel Sounding, Thread, Zigbee and Matter are supported, with Nordic targeting applications including tags, asset trackers and smart home sensors.
The nRF54LC10A pairs a 128 MHz Arm Cortex-M33 core with a RISC-V coprocessor and comes with 1 MB of non-volatile memory and 192 KB of RAM. Two 1.9 × 2.3 mm chip-scale packages will be offered alongside a QFN option, giving the device the smallest footprint in the nRF54L Series.
Bluetooth Channel Sounding for Tags and Trackers
Nordic expects Bluetooth LE devices to account for the majority of nRF54LC10A deployments. Alongside conventional Bluetooth LE connectivity, support for Bluetooth Channel Sounding makes the SoC suited to asset trackers and other products that need distance measurement.
The multiprotocol radio draws 4.0 mA in receive and 5.8 mA when transmitting at 0 dBm, with a maximum transmit power of +4 dBm. Receiver sensitivity is -97 dBm for Bluetooth LE 1M and -101 dBm for 802.15.4.
Low-power operation carries over from the rest of the nRF54L Series. Built on a 22 nm process and using Nordic's low-leakage RAM, the nRF54LC10A has sleep-mode current ranging from 0.5 µA to 1.6 µA. These characteristics are relevant for small battery-powered devices such as tags and sensors that may spend much of their operating life asleep.
Thread, Zigbee and Matter for Smart Home Devices
The second major application area is the smart home. The nRF54LC10A targets Thread and Zigbee accessories as well as simpler Matter-enabled sensors that fit within its 1 MB NVM and 192 KB RAM memory profile.
It can also serve as a Thread radio coprocessor in home hubs and Thread Border Routers. In this configuration, the nRF54LC10A handles Thread connectivity alongside a separate host application processor or MCU.
For products that need to remain secure and maintainable after deployment, the SoC includes Arm TrustZone isolation and protection against physical attacks. Firmware-over-the-air updates and remote observability through Nordic nRF Cloud services are also supported.
The peripheral set includes three SPI/TWI/UART instances and an ADC. Developers can use the same qualified wireless stacks, embedded software and tools available across the nRF54L Series, making it possible to move to other family members if a design later requires different processing, memory or peripheral resources.
The nRF54LC10A is sampling now, with development kits scheduled for general availability in Q1 2027 and production expected in Q2 2027.
Learn more and read the original announcement at nordicsemi.com.
Technology Overview
The Nordic nRF54LC10A is an entry-level multiprotocol SoC supporting Bluetooth LE, Bluetooth Channel Sounding, Thread, Zigbee and Matter. It targets compact connected products including asset trackers, smart home sensors and Thread radio coprocessors.
FAQs
What wireless protocols does the nRF54LC10A support?
The nRF54LC10A supports Bluetooth LE, Bluetooth Channel Sounding, Thread, Zigbee and Matter.
What processor and memory does the nRF54LC10A have?
It uses a 128 MHz Arm Cortex-M33 core with a RISC-V coprocessor, 1 MB of non-volatile memory and 192 KB of RAM.
What applications is the nRF54LC10A designed for?
Nordic is targeting compact IoT products including Bluetooth LE tags and asset trackers, Thread and Zigbee accessories, Matter sensors, home hubs and Thread Border Routers.
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