Synopsys Public Key Accelerators

Public key cryptography, or asymmetric cryptography, uses mathematical functions to create codes that are exceptionally difficult to crack, enabling designers to protect sensitive data and systems. But algorithms such as RSA, Digital Signature Algorithm (DSA), Diffie-Hellman (DH), and Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) rely on mathematical operations across very large numbers: from 160 to 1024 bits for ECC, and up to 8192 bits for RSA operations. Most CPUs operate on 32- and 64-bit values, so running these algorithms in software consumes significant compute cycles, power, and time.

Synopsys ECC/RSA Public Key Accelerators (PKAs) offload that work to dedicate hardware, executing the computationally intensive elements of RSA and ECC operations, so your host processor doesn't have to. The result is faster key generation, signing, verification, and key exchange at a fraction of the power and processor load.

The portfolio also includes quantum-safe Agile PQC Public Key Accelerators supporting the latest NIST post-quantum cryptographic (PQC) standards — ML-KEM (FIPS 203), ML-DSA (FIPS 204), SLH-DSA (FIPS 205), and XMSS/LMS (SP 800-208) — with FN-DSA and HQC on the roadmap. A hybrid hardware/firmware architecture accelerates the core cryptographic primitives in hardware while implementing higher-level algorithms in firmware, so the IP can be updated in the field as standards evolve. 

Available as standalone IP cores, Synopsys PKAs help designers protect sensitive data and systems for government, enterprises, and consumers applications, from the edge to the cloud.