STMicro Unveils World's First Post-Quantum Crypto Mobile Chip

STMicroelectronics has developed the world's first mobile chip to include a dedicated hardware accelerator for post-quantum cryptography, called the ST54M. Announced on June 24, this chip combines an NFC controller, embedded secure element (eSE), eSIM capability, and the PQC accelerator onto a single piece of silicon.

The immediate risk that the ST54M addresses is 'harvest now, decrypt later,' where bad actors intercept and stockpile encrypted data today, betting that quantum computers will eventually let them crack it open. The chip supports two NIST-standardized algorithms: ML-KEM for key encapsulation and ML-DSA for digital signatures.

The ST54M has already started shipping samples, with Common Criteria 2022 EUCC and EMVCo certifications expected by July 2026. Volume production is planned around the same timeframe. This chip builds on STMicroelectronics' earlier work in post-quantum cryptography, which released software libraries for developers to integrate quantum-resistant algorithms into their applications.