ZeroRISC has announced the full open-source release of its cryptographic hardware and software stack, marking a major step toward transparent and verifiable silicon security. The release combines the company’s configurable Cryptolib embedded cryptography library with its open-source silicon platform, creating a fully integrated hardware-software cryptography solution designed for both classical and post-quantum operations. As organizations prepare for the next generation of cybersecurity threats including those posed by quantum computing this open-source stack offers a scalable and production-ready foundation for device manufacturers, silicon integrators, and security architects.
At the core of the release is a programmable Asymmetric Cryptography Coprocessor (ACC) capable of supporting both classical and post-quantum cryptographic algorithms. In addition, the platform includes dedicated hardware accelerators for symmetric cryptographic operations such as AES and SHA2/SHA3 hashing. Together, these components create a co-designed cryptographic environment that enables efficient and secure operations from the silicon layer up through the software stack. By making the entire system open source, ZeroRISC aims to enable transparent verification, collaborative innovation, and faster adoption of modern cryptographic standards.
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The project builds on years of collaboration between industry engineers and academic researchers. Previous research findings were presented in “Towards ML-KEM and ML-DSA on OpenTitan” at IEEE S&P 2025, while additional improvements will appear in “Improving ML-KEM and ML-DSA on OpenTitan” at CHES 2026. Both projects highlight how hardware and software co-design can dramatically improve cryptographic performance. The joint research team also plans to present their work at Real World Crypto 2026 in Taipei, where they will discuss practical methods for migrating silicon root-of-trust systems to post-quantum cryptography.
Through this collaboration, researchers introduced several innovations to the silicon architecture. These included extended vector instruction set architecture (ISA) instructions, new multiplier and adder hardware components, and additional datapath registers within the ACC. When combined with optimized software implementations, these improvements delivered significant performance gains. Specifically, the team achieved 6–9x performance improvements for ML-KEM and ML-DSA algorithms, which are part of the newly standardized post-quantum cryptography (PQC) framework. Additionally, they improved maximum operating frequency by 36–75%, all while maintaining near-zero increases in chip area.
ZeroRISC engineers further optimized the platform by refining both hardware and software components. Memory optimizations reduced ML-DSA stack usage by more than 90%, helping define the coprocessor’s final memory architecture. Meanwhile, improvements to the KMAC hardware interface reduced processor stall cycles and unlocked new software optimization opportunities. The team also introduced new rejection sampling techniques that cut ML-DSA cycle counts by more than half while eliminating ML-KEM processor stalls. Importantly, the entire lattice cryptography capability remains configurable, allowing developers to enable or disable post-quantum hardware extensions depending on system requirements.
Cryptolib itself supports a wide range of classical cryptographic algorithms. These include AES in multiple modes, SHA2 and SHA3 hashing, RSA key generation, elliptic curve cryptography such as ECDSA and ECDH, Ed25519, X25519, and multiple key derivation functions. Because of its modular architecture, users can integrate only the algorithms they need. The library also includes extensive testing infrastructure with functional tests, automated Known Answer Tests (KAT) using Wycheproof and NIST vectors, and simulation tools for debugging and validation.
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On the post-quantum side, Cryptolib now includes hardware-accelerated implementations of three major NIST-standardized algorithm families: ML-KEM, ML-DSA, and SLH-DSA. Notably, the SLH-DSA (SPHINCS+) implementation has been available since the earliest chip samples, enabling post-quantum secure boot functionality from the start.
“Open-source silicon and cryptography are the future of device security,” said Dom Rizzo, CEO and founder of ZeroRISC. “Cryptolib’s expansive classical and post-quantum support is proof of what’s possible when open-source silicon engineers and world-class cryptographers co-design hardware and software together in the open. It matured through years of collaborative engineering researchers providing deep insight into what was possible, industry engineers refining the software and hardware for commercial production, both working from shared code with rigorous review. The result is a cryptographic stack, from silicon to software, that is fast, verifiable, and built for the common good. Open ecosystems compound value when the work is genuinely shared.”
Researchers involved in the project also emphasized the broader significance of open-source silicon for the cybersecurity community.
“The open-source paradigm has very successfully driven progress in the software space it’s time to extend that to hardware,” said Peter Schwabe, Scientific Director at the Max Planck Institute for Security and Privacy. “Our collaboration with ZeroRISC on post-quantum cryptography demonstrates exactly what becomes possible when you do. Open-source silicon accelerates research the same way open-source software always has, and produces cryptographic implementations that meet the highest standards of performance, security, and long-term maintainability. This is how research moves responsibly from the lab into production and how that progress becomes available to everyone.”
During Real World Crypto 2026, the academic and commercial consortium will present their findings in a talk titled “Migrating a Silicon Root of Trust to Post-Quantum Crypto.” The presentation will explain the hardware-software co-design methodology used to integrate high-performance lattice cryptography into embedded systems while maintaining strict memory and power constraints.
As the cybersecurity industry prepares for the transition to quantum-resistant encryption standards, demand for production-ready and verifiable implementations continues to grow. ZeroRISC’s open-source cryptographic stack aims to address this need by providing a transparent and research-backed platform that organizations can deploy with confidence across next-generation secure devices.
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