Unisoc, formerly Spreadtrum, a well-known Chinese manufacturer of various application processors, has introduced what it claims is the world’s first security chip based on the RISC-V architecture, an open instruction set (ISA). The E450R is expected to deliver significant performance for security algorithms, reports Home page.
The key feature of the E450R is its asymmetric PKE cryptographic algorithm, which is said to perform 50% faster than its predecessor. Even when the key length is increased, the chip maintains its performance, providing solid security without sacrificing speed, according to the source report. The E450R also offers a 50% improvement in typical transaction-based applications, making the chip particularly suitable for high-demand environments where rapid processing is crucial, Home page claims.
In addition to cryptographic improvements, the E450R offers a 15% escalate in non-volatile memory (NVM) erase/write speeds. This improvement allows the chip to store more data in the same time frame, making it more productive for applications requiring constant memory operations.
One thing Unisoc is particularly proud of is its apply of the open-source RISC-V ISA. This has allowed the company to tailor the processing cores to workloads, offering higher performance at lower power consumption compared to the conventional approach of using off-the-shelf Arm R, which uses many legacy features to maintain the integrity of the ISA while providing compatibility with a range of software. This takes up space and power, unlike the case with RISC-V. Given that Unisoc provides the API and maintains the software/firmware stack, there is no problem with E450R software (in)compatibility, at least IT Home and Unisoc do not mention this factor specifically.
On the software side, Unisoc claims that the specially designed microarchitecture of the chip allows for a 30% reduction in application code size and a 120% acceleration in application load time, which is extremely essential for real-time applications.
The E450R has already obtained several essential certifications, including National Cryptography Level 2, UnionPay chip and firmware security certifications, and CCRC IT EAL4+ certification.
The only question we are left with now is whether Chinese secret services are able to bypass the level of security offered by the Unisoc E450R?
