Espressif snaps coding agents onto hardware, Renesas brings MRAM to the RX line, and Nordic posts a record quarter

Espressif builds a development kit around a coding agent

On 20 October, Espressif announced ESP-Mosaico, a modular development platform that pairs snap-on hardware with coding agents. The host device is built on the ESP32-S31, a RISC-V SoC with Wi-Fi 6, dual-mode Bluetooth 5.4 and 802.15.4, and carries a touchscreen, a battery and expansion I/O. Modules for cameras, sensors, buttons, lighting and motors are identified automatically when attached. A built-in agent, ESP-Claw, takes a plain-language description and generates, builds and deploys the application without a local toolchain, and Espressif says the platform is also designed to bring other coding agents into the build, test and debug loop. The kit is on sale now. The day before, on 19 October, Espressif said that Meta’s open-source Muse Gadget SDK, which connects Meta’s Muse personal AI agent to physical devices, includes an ESP32 device SDK built on ESP-IDF, and that the Home Link connectivity device shown on the Muse Gadgets site uses the ESP32-C5. Matter support for Muse is still in development.

Why it matters: Two weeks after Silicon Labs opened its SDKs to coding assistants, Espressif has gone a step further and made the agent part of the product. ESP-Mosaico is aimed at prototyping and makers rather than production firmware, but the direction is the same: the ESP32 development board is becoming something an AI agent can program and debug on its own. The Meta tie-in points the other way, with the chip as a cheap bridge between a cloud assistant and devices on the home network. That bridge works through local HTTP APIs, which is convenient and also a new path into the home; the trade-offs are the subject of AI agents for the smart home.

Renesas moves its RX microcontrollers to 22nm and MRAM

On 22 October, Renesas launched the RX74M and RX74N, the first devices in its RX family built on a 22nm process and the first to use embedded MRAM. Both run a 600 MHz RXv3e core with 1 MB of MRAM and 1.5 MB of SRAM. Renesas says MRAM can be written without a prior erase cycle, which speeds up code and data updates, and that both parts deliver more than twice the performance of the 240 MHz RX72M and RX72N. The RX74M integrates an EtherCAT slave controller, a TSN-capable Gigabit Ethernet switch and CAN FD on one chip, supports PROFINET and EtherNet/IP, and targets AC drives, industrial robots and PLCs; the RX74N targets smart meters, power conditioners and HVAC equipment. A new security block, RSIP, extends public-key cryptography and, according to Renesas, enables post-quantum cryptography, with the Cyber Resilience Act cited as a driver. The company says both devices are available now.

Why it matters: Embedded flash has not followed logic down to the smallest process nodes, which is why MRAM and other non-volatile memories are turning up in industrial microcontrollers. For a drive or PLC, erase-free writes mean faster and less fragile firmware updates, a practical gain for OTA updates in the field. Putting EtherCAT, PROFINET and a TSN switch on one chip also cuts parts from the bill of materials. The security story is the part to check against a datasheet: “enables PQC” is not the same as naming an algorithm, and the Cyber Resilience Act asks for more than cryptographic hardware. Our industrial IoT guide covers where these controllers sit.

Nordic Semiconductor reports another record quarter

On 22 October, Nordic Semiconductor reported third-quarter revenue of USD 235 million, up 32% from a year earlier and an all-time high for a quarter. Gross margin was 53% and adjusted EBITDA was USD 40 million, or 17% of revenue. Short-range revenue, the Bluetooth and multiprotocol business, rose 30% to USD 216 million, which the company attributed to demand from both key customers and the broad market. Long-range revenue rose 70% to USD 17 million, driven by cellular and satellite product sales, a broader customer base and growth in nRF Cloud Services. For the fourth quarter Nordic guided to revenue of USD 215 to 235 million with gross margin above 50%. The report adds that the AI-assisted development tools launched at the end of May are used by a significant and growing number of customers and developers.

Why it matters: Nordic’s results are one of the better public readings of demand for Bluetooth Low Energy chips, and they say the consumer and industrial device market is still growing at a healthy rate. The more interesting number is the smaller one. Long-range, which covers cellular IoT and the cloud services sold alongside it, is still under a tenth of revenue but grew more than twice as fast as the core business, a sign that a chip vendor selling services per device is starting to work. See NB-IoT and LTE-M explained for the technology behind that segment.

CISA flags a hard-coded key in Moxa’s ThingsPro Edge gateway

On 20 October, CISA published advisory ICSA-26-293-03 for two vulnerabilities in the Moxa AIG-302 running ThingsPro Edge firmware 1.4.0 and earlier. CVE-2026-109813, a hard-coded cryptographic key in a system management binary, scores 8.1 on CVSS v3.1 and lets an unauthenticated attacker on an adjacent network use exposed private key material to undermine the confidentiality and integrity of communications. CVE-2026-109812, a missing authorization check in an internal API, scores 6.8 and lets a privileged, authenticated attacker on an adjacent network reach sensitive data including key material. Moxa fixed both in version 1.4.1. The product is used in critical manufacturing, energy and water systems worldwide; CISA says the flaws are not remotely exploitable and that no public exploitation had been reported.

Why it matters: A key baked into firmware is shared by every unit that runs it, so once it is extracted from one gateway it is effectively public for the whole fleet. That is the failure mode that per-device identity is meant to prevent, as explained in IoT device identity and PKI. The adjacent-network requirement limits the risk, but an edge gateway usually sits exactly where an attacker who already has a foothold on the plant network would look next. Patch, and keep the gateway’s management interface on a separate segment, as described under network segmentation.

Also worth your time

• 20 October: Singtel and Ericsson agreed a five-year partnership to scale 5G Advanced in Singapore; the release notes that 5G network slicing already supports automated guided vehicles at PSA’s Tuas Port and names industrial robotics and smart manufacturing among the target uses.
• 22 October: Ericsson, the Polish operator Play and Asseco described a demonstration, held in Kraków on 15 October, that combined integrated sensing and communication on a 5G radio with acoustic sensors to locate drones that are not connected to the network; Ericsson expects broader commercialization in the 6G timeframe.

Sources

• Espressif, Espressif Launches ESP-Mosaico, Bringing AI Coding Beyond the Boundaries of Hardware
• Espressif, ESP32 Powers the Muse Gadgets Ecosystem
• Renesas, Renesas Launches RX74M and RX74N Flagship 32-bit MCUs, First RX Family Built on 22nm Process and Featuring MRAM
• Nordic Semiconductor, Q3 report 2026
• CISA, ICS Advisory ICSA-26-293-03 Moxa AIG-302 ThingsPro Edge
• Ericsson, Singtel and Ericsson deepen partnership to scale 5G innovation and build AI-native networks
• Ericsson, Ericsson, Play and Asseco show detection of unauthorized drones for Polish authorities

Topics: Espressif, Renesas, Nordic Semiconductor, Moxa, industrial IoT