Researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) designed and had fabricated an ASIC to run new encryption algorithms that can stand up to quantum computing.
“Ours is the first chip for post-quantum cryptography to be based entirely on a hardware/software co-design approach,” said Georg Sigl, Professor of Security in Information Technology at TUM. “As a result, it is around 10 times as fast when encrypting with Kyber – one of the most promising candidates for post-quantum cryptography – as compared to chips based entirely on software solutions. It also uses around eight times less energy and is almost as flexible.”
The team modified an open-source chip design based on RISC-V. The chip’s post-quantum cryptography capabilities are facilitated by a modification of the processor core and special instructions that speed up the necessary arithmetic operations.