Avery Dennison Integrates Pragmatic NFC Chips at Scale

Flexible NFC inlays enter mass production, enabling low-cost item-level intelligence for packaging and products.

Avery Dennison has become the first company to integrate flexible NFC chips from Pragmatic Semiconductor into its inlay portfolio at industrial scale. The solution is based on Pragmatic’s NFC Connect PR1301, a flexible integrated circuit designed for HF RFID and NFC applications at 13.56 MHz.

The milestone marks a shift from pilot projects to true mass production of flexible electronics in wireless IoT. Flexible chips have been discussed for years, but scaling them within established inlay manufacturing processes has remained a major challenge. Avery Dennison now confirms compatibility with standard converting lines, making high-volume deployment realistic.

Designed for Low-Cost Item-Level Intelligence

Technically, the PR1301 is built for low-cost, high-volume identification and interaction use cases rather than complex processing. The chip features a factory-programmed unique ID, 96 bytes of user memory, and support for NFC Forum Type 5 and ISO 15693 standards. This ensures compatibility with both industrial readers and NFC-enabled smartphones, enabling direct consumer interaction via tap.

A key difference compared with conventional silicon chips is the physical flexibility of Pragmatic’s FlexIC technology. The chips are ultra-thin and can be embedded into labels, paper, or packaging, including curved surfaces. This opens new integration options for applications where rigid silicon has been a limitation.

From a manufacturing perspective, Pragmatic uses a low-temperature, additive process rather than traditional silicon wafer fabrication. This reduces material usage, energy consumption, and production complexity. The result is a chip architecture designed specifically for cost efficiency at scale, which is essential for item-level tagging in mass-market products.

For Avery Dennison, the integration enables a new class of NFC inlays aimed at smart packaging and connected products. Brands can assign a unique digital identity to each item and enable smartphone-based interactions, including product authentication, traceability, and digital content delivery.

This is particularly relevant in the context of upcoming regulations such as the Digital Product Passport in the European Union, where products must carry accessible lifecycle and sustainability data. Flexible NFC offers a more discreet and durable alternative to visible solutions such as QR codes, while maintaining ease of use.

Key application areas include retail, apparel, cosmetics, healthcare, and FMCG. These are sectors where cost sensitivity and physical integration constraints have historically limited NFC adoption. By lowering both barriers, the Avery Dennison and Pragmatic combination expands the addressable market for item-level connectivity.

The development does not replace other identification technologies. UHF RFID remains essential for logistics and bulk reading, while QR codes continue to offer a low-cost entry point. Flexible NFC adds another layer by enabling secure, direct interaction at the individual product level.

The strategic significance lies in the combination of new chip architecture and established industrial scale. Pragmatic provides a purpose-built, low-cost semiconductor platform, while Avery Dennison brings global manufacturing reach and integration into existing supply chains.