I was struggling with setting AP on xiao ESP32S3. The AP did not show at all, or for a while and when I tried to connect to it, it failed and AP disappeared. It was not stable nor predictive.
I found this, that is probably explaining the reason: UM FeatherS3 - has anyone tested these? Or tested ESPNow with ESP32-S3? · micropython · Discussion #12017 · GitHub
The solution is simple:
lower the txpower, use higher channel number.
In micropython I use:
import network
apwlan = network.WLAN(network.AP_IF)
apwlan.active(True)
apwlan.config(txpower=2, channel=9)
apwlan.config(ssid='myWorkingAP')