Intrinsic ID Looks Back on 15 Years of Building Digital Trust

Pioneering Work with Physical Unclonable Function (PUF) Technology Transformed Intrinsic ID into a World-Leading Embedded Security Solutions Provider Protecting Sensors in Everything from Smart Watches to Satellites

• Worldwide more than 600 million devices are equipped with a chip secured by Intrinsic ID.
• As the need for digital security grows, Intrinsic ID is expanding from aerospace, defense and banking into healthcare, consumer, datacenters, automotive, chiplets, the IoT and more.
• Intrinsic ID SRAM PUF technology is even more important and relevant today as it was 15 years ago and continues to receive accolades and recognition by security and semiconductor experts and the IoT ecosystem.

Sunnyvale, Calif. / Eindhoven, the Netherlands, October 24, 2023 – Intrinsic ID, a world leading digital security solutions provider today marked a key milestone as it celebrates its 15th anniversary. Formed in 2008 as a spinout of Philips Research where the founders of Intrinsic ID were conducting groundbreaking research on security for ambient intelligence – a precursor to the Internet of Things (IoT) – the company has pioneered the use of Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) for security and authentication applications in embedded systems and the Internet of Things (IoT). Today, the Intrinsic ID PUF-based security solutions are deployed by the biggest tech and semiconductor companies around the world in more than 600 million devices and counting.

“I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve built over the last 15 years at Intrinsic ID. To see our work evolve into a commercial enterprise and contribute so significantly to the advancement of digital security is humbling and gratifying,” said Dr. Pim Tuyls, CEO and co-founder of Intrinsic ID. “The attitude towards digital security has shifted dramatically over the years and now device-level security has become an integral component that is designed in up front. It has been a remarkable journey so far and one that is far from over. I’m proud of the gains we’ve made in helping to enable a more secure, interconnected world and excited about the advances we will make over the next 15 years and beyond.”

Intrinsic ID has displayed steady growth throughout its history with its underlying technology continuing to receive industry accolades. Over the last few years, the company has experienced accelerated momentum, doubling its revenue, exponentially expanding the number of devices containing its technology and gaining traction in new, high-growth market sectors such as automotive, the data center and IoT. The company’s two most recent product launches underscore its commitment and leadership in IoT security.

Recently, Intrinsic ID became the world’s first IP provider to achieve PSA Certified Level 3 Root of Trust (RoT) Component Certification with QuiddiKey 300 – one of a series of new products customized for key target markets such as: automotive, datacenter, government/defense and IoT among others. In addition, the new Intrinsic ID software-based solution, Zign® which enables every connected device to have a unique identity and hardware-based security anchor, offers device-level security to new or existing IoT devices and has been nominated for IoT Product of the Year as part of the Elektra Awards 2023.

“Intrinsic ID has been working on commercializing the use of PUF technology for security and authentication purposes longer than any other vendor. We play a key role in making the digital world more secure in hundreds of millions of devices from smart watches to satellites. As the need for security is everywhere, our solutions are becoming more relevant for a wider range of applications and industries,” said Geert-Jan Schrijen, co-founder and CTO of Intrinsic ID.

Intrinsic ID is recognized as the largest and most established provider of PUF technology addressing the growing security complexities for chip makers by the Microprocessor Report from Tech Insights. The report describes how PUF technology is gaining market traction and how the technology can solve for the industry’s most pressing security issues. (contact info@intrinsic-id.com to get the Microprocessor Report article)

Intrinsic ID was formed based on pioneering work with SRAM PUF. This initial work is still relevant today. The founders of Intrinsic ID along with colleagues from Philips Research published a paper in 2007 titled: “FPGA PUFs and Their Use for IP Protection.” Since its publication, this paper has been cited over 1500 times and was recently named one of the three “most noticeable” papers in the 25-year history of the annual Conference on Cryptographic Hardware and Embedded Systems (CHES). CHES is the premier venue for research on design and analysis of cryptographic hardware and software implementations and the most noticeable papers were selected based on the objective measure of number of citations.

Origin Story of Intrinsic ID
Back in 2007, a group of scientists working at Philips Research Laboratories were exploring a concept called “ambient intelligence”, which was the idea that intelligent devices and sensors could be everywhere making decisions autonomously. In this environment all the systems involved must be trusted, so the team focused on investigating security for ambient intelligence. It was through this work they discovered innovative ways to apply a technology called Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs). A PUF harnesses the natural variations within the manufacturing process of integrated circuits to generate a distinct digital identifier. After working with several different types of PUFs, the SRAM PUF, which leverages the behavior of standard SRAM memory, available on any chip, to create a digital fingerprint, was determined best-suited for commercialization.  Proven to be robust, yet lightweight and scalable, SRAM PUF could be applied to a wide range of applications. This is when the founders decided to spin off from Philips Research and form Intrinsic ID.

The first markets to adopt SRAM-PUF security were government and defense and banking applications but as the world became more digital, the technology has expanded to protecting sensitive data in the cloud and securing Internet of Things (IoT) devices, exactly as was envisioned in the “ambient intelligence” project years earlier as ambient computing had evolved into what we know as the IoT today.  And, as the IoT becomes increasingly integral in pivotal sectors such as automotive, industrial, critical infrastructure, healthcare, wearables, finance, smart residences, and urban environments, the task of securing these IoT devices has become both crucial and challenging and provides an ever-growing market for the Intrinsic ID solutions.

Today Intrinsic ID is recognized as a pioneer of PUF technology and has received numerous awards and accolades for its innovative technology. It was born in the same High Tech Campus that is home to more than 200 companies and research organizations, including Philips Research, NXP Semiconductors, and ASML. The company is also based in Silicon Valley and its customers are some of the biggest names in the tech industry who rely on Intrinsic ID to protect more than 600 million devices in the field.

Intrinsic ID was co-founded by Pim Tuyls and Geert-Jan Schrijen. Dr. Pim Tuyls, CEO of Intrinsic ID, holds a PhD in mathematical physics from the University of Leuven in Belgium and has more than 50 patents. Geert-Jan Schrijen, Chief Technology Officer of Intrinsic ID, holds a master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Twente.

About Intrinsic ID
Intrinsic ID is the world’s leading provider of security IP for embedded systems based on PUF technology. The technology provides an additional level of hardware security utilizing the inherent uniqueness in each and every silicon chip. The IP can be delivered in hardware or software and can be applied easily to almost any chip – from tiny microcontrollers to high-performance FPGAs – and at any stage of a product’s lifecycle. It is used as a hardware root of trust to protect sensitive military and government data and systems, validate payment systems, secure connectivity, and authenticate sensors.

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