diff --git a/src/platform/silabs/platformAbstraction/WiseMcuSpam.cpp b/src/platform/silabs/platformAbstraction/WiseMcuSpam.cpp
index 0bddafd96506f9..053b30cc8619f4 100644
--- a/src/platform/silabs/platformAbstraction/WiseMcuSpam.cpp
+++ b/src/platform/silabs/platformAbstraction/WiseMcuSpam.cpp
@@ -46,6 +46,10 @@ void soc_pll_config(void);
 #include "SEGGER_SYSVIEW.h"
 #endif
 
+#if SILABS_LOG_OUT_UART || ENABLE_CHIP_SHELL
+#include "uart.h"
+#endif
+
 namespace chip {
 namespace DeviceLayer {
 namespace Silabs {
@@ -75,6 +79,10 @@ CHIP_ERROR SilabsPlatform::Init(void)
     silabsInitLog();
 #endif
 
+#if SILABS_LOG_OUT_UART || ENABLE_CHIP_SHELL
+    uartConsoleInit();
+#endif
+
 #ifdef SL_CATALOG_SYSTEMVIEW_TRACE_PRESENT
     SEGGER_SYSVIEW_Conf();
 #endif
diff --git a/third_party/silabs/SiWx917_sdk.gni b/third_party/silabs/SiWx917_sdk.gni
index ea9d6beaefd970..30e1595493c60c 100644
--- a/third_party/silabs/SiWx917_sdk.gni
+++ b/third_party/silabs/SiWx917_sdk.gni
@@ -248,13 +248,6 @@ template("siwx917_sdk") {
       defines += [ "SILABS_LOG_ENABLED=0" ]
     }
 
-    if (chip_build_libshell) {
-      defines += [
-        "ENABLE_CHIP_SHELL",
-        "SLI_SI91X_MCU_INTR_BASED_RX_ON_UART=1",
-      ]
-    }
-
     defines += [ "LWIP_NETIF_API=1" ]
     if (chip_enable_wifi_ipv4) {
       defines += [
@@ -329,6 +322,9 @@ template("siwx917_sdk") {
       defines += [ "ENABLE_CHIP_SHELL" ]
     }
 
+    if (chip_build_libshell || sl_uart_log_output) {
+      defines += [ "SLI_SI91X_MCU_INTR_BASED_RX_ON_UART=1" ]
+    }
     if (enable_dic) {
       defines += [ "DIC_ENABLE=1" ]
     }
diff --git a/third_party/silabs/silabs_board.gni b/third_party/silabs/silabs_board.gni
index 7c1d77d036a41f..087ccc9d892916 100644
--- a/third_party/silabs/silabs_board.gni
+++ b/third_party/silabs/silabs_board.gni
@@ -43,9 +43,6 @@ declare_args() {
   # Disable AWS SDK OTA by default
   aws_sdk_ota = false
 
-  # Disable UART log forwarding by default
-  sl_uart_log_output = false
-
   # Self-provision enabled
   use_provision_channel = false
 }
@@ -165,6 +162,10 @@ declare_args() {
   # User can set this arg to false to skip the rps creation for WiFi SoCs.
   # e.g. for CI
   use_rps_extension = wifi_soc
+
+  # UART log forwarding
+  # Default true for the wifi soc and false for EFR32 boards
+  sl_uart_log_output = wifi_soc
 }
 
 # qr code cannot be true if lcd is disabled