Certification
Security Chips Compete on Certificates, Not Speed
A TPM without Common Criteria EAL4+ cannot go into an enterprise PC, and a secure element without EMVCo approval cannot go into a payment card, whatever its performance.
Swapping a certified security chip means a new Common Criteria evaluation for the part, which costs $500,000 to $2 million at EAL5+, plus recertifying the platform under FIPS 140-3 or PCI rules: 18 to 36 months in all, longer than the 12 to 24 months to requalify an automotive MCU. Infineon's hold on the enterprise TPM socket rests on that history as much as on the silicon.
Post-quantum
Post-Quantum Deadlines Force a Recertification Cycle
NIST published the first post-quantum standards, ML-KEM (FIPS 203) and ML-DSA (FIPS 204), in August 2024. In January 2025 Infineon received the first Common Criteria certification, from Germany's BSI, for a post-quantum algorithm running on a security controller. Every TPM, secure element and automotive HSM that signs firmware or protects keys for a decade or more now needs post-quantum support, and each one has to go back through certification to get it.
The quantum computers that would break RSA are still ahead; their status is on Quantum.
Families
Eight Families of Security Silicon
- Discrete merchant chips
- Built into a larger chip
- Appliances
- China
| Family | Flagship products | Process | Suppliers |
|---|---|---|---|
| TPM 2.0 | Infineon OPTIGA SLB9672; ST ST33KTPM; Nuvoton NPCT75x | 40nm to 90nm with long certification history | Infineon leads; STMicroelectronics second; Nuvoton (Taiwan) in budget PCs |
| Secure elements | NXP EdgeLock SE050 and SE051; Infineon OPTIGA Trust M; ST STSAFE-A; Microchip ATECC608 | 40nm to 90nm; tamper mesh and active shields matter more than node | NXP leads in IoT; Infineon leads in payment cards |
| eSIM and eUICC | Infineon, ST and NXP silicon with Giesecke+Devrient, Thales and Kigen operating systems | 40nm to 65nm; GSMA SGP.22 and SGP.32 | Every connected car and most new phones |
| Automotive security | Infineon AURIX TC3xx and TC4xx HSM core; NXP S32 HSE; Renesas RH850 ICU | 28nm to 40nm, AEC-Q100 | Built into safety MCUs; UN R155 drives demand |
| Root of trust in the SoC | Apple Secure Enclave; Arm TrustZone; Caliptra (open source, backed by AMD, Google, Microsoft and NVIDIA) | Follows the host SoC node | Captive or licensed IP from Arm, Rambus and Synopsys |
| Cloud security chips | AWS Nitro; Google Titan; Microsoft Pluton in AMD Ryzen, Intel Core Ultra and Qualcomm Snapdragon X PCs; Azure Integrated HSM in servers | Mature to leading-edge, captive | Not sold on the open market |
| Hardware security modules | Thales Luna 7; Entrust nShield; Utimaco; AWS CloudHSM | Certified appliances with internal ASICs, FIPS 140-3 Level 3 | Thales, Entrust, Utimaco |
| China national crypto | TCM and TPCM modules using SM2, SM3 and SM4 | Mature nodes in Chinese fabs | Nationz Technologies, Unigroup Guoxin, Huada Semiconductor; required in Chinese government and critical systems |
Supply risk
Where the Lock-In Bites
| Category | Where it is used | Main supply risk |
|---|---|---|
| TPM 2.0 | Every Windows 11 PC and x86 server | Infineon holds most enterprise sockets; a new TPM means new Common Criteria evaluation |
| Secure elements | IoT identity, payment cards, EV chargers | EMVCo and Common Criteria lock-in; NXP and Infineon dominate high-assurance parts |
| Automotive security | UN R155 compliance, OTA update integrity, V2X | AEC-Q100 plus ISO/SAE 21434; few qualified suppliers |
| Cloud security chips | AWS, Google and Azure tenant isolation | Captive; depends on each hyperscaler's design team |
Most of these chips run on 40nm to 90nm, often on 200mm lines with security-specific layers such as tamper meshes, which limits which fabs can make them. The wider mature-node picture is on Mature-Node MCUs.
Vehicles
UN R155 Puts a Security Chip in Every New Car
UN Regulation 155 has required a certified cybersecurity management system for new vehicle types in the EU since July 2022 and for all new vehicles since July 2024, with Japan and Korea following. Each connected vehicle carries an eSIM, an HSM inside its gateway MCU and often a separate secure element for over-the-air updates and V2X. The vehicle side is on ElectronsX.
Record
Page Record
- Covers
- Security silicon families, certification lock-in, the post-quantum recertification cycle, UN R155, China's national cryptography chips
- Sources
- NIST FIPS 203 and 204 (August 2024) and NIST IR 8547 draft (November 2024); Infineon and BSI (January 2025); NIST CMVP FIPS 140-2 sunset notice; NSA CNSA 2.0; EU Cyber Resilience Act; UNECE R155; vendor product pages
- Last verified
- October 2026