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SignalNordic Semiconductor

Nordic Semiconductor Ships nRF93M1 DK: LTE Cat 1 bis With a RISC-V Coprocessor for Software-Defined Peripherals, Now Generally Available

Nordic's nRF93M1 smart modem is now generally available, pairing LTE Cat 1 bis with a RISC-V coprocessor on the host nRF54L15 that handles software-defined peripherals, reducing the firmware integration problem for cellular IoT to a single-module precertified path.

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The nRF93M1 DK ships generally available. The headline is LTE Cat 1 bis plus Wi-Fi in a precertified module. The part worth tracking is the host MCU: the nRF54L15 runs a Cortex-M33 main core alongside a RISC-V coprocessor dedicated to software-defined peripherals, and that architecture is the real signal from this release.

The RISC-V coprocessor matters more than the headline spec. The nRF54L15 architecture uses the RISC-V core to offload peripheral control from the application processor, allowing firmware teams to reprogram peripheral behavior without pulling the Cortex-M33 out of low-power modes or paying the latency cost of interrupt routing. This is the same programmable-peripheral pattern Espressif used with the LP-RISC-V core on the ESP32-C6, and it is becoming a standard feature of next-generation connected MCUs: the main core stays asleep, the RISC-V coprocessor handles the peripheral decision loop.

For IoT teams building LTE-connected devices in the 2026-2027 window, the nRF93M1 collapses two integration problems: the cellular certification path (module is precertified) and the peripheral firmware problem (RISC-V soft peripheral engine reduces the firmware surface the application team needs to own). The development kit is priced around $60. At that entry point, the cost of not evaluating this against a discrete cellular + MCU design is higher than the cost of three days of engineer time.