> Secure platforms anchor on a hardware Root of Trust as the foundation. Given Intel’s diverse ecosystem, our vision is to offer multiple Root of Trust options that ensure isolation of resources, keys and security assets. The partnership with Microsoft to offer Pluton will further broaden the choices available to our mutual customers.
Hopefully a future Intel SoC will include an optional FPGA-based RoT where customer hardware owners can load the open-source firmware of their choice.
Edit: Pluton will be included in upcoming Arm laptops with SoCs from the Qualcomm-Nuvia (former Apple M1) team.
Take a look at the past 3 years of presentations at DARPA ERI, where every major US silicon vendor is participating. Much work is underway on heterogeneous systems, including Open FPGAs and OSS toolchains for EDA, to speed up (days, not months) the design-test-deploy cycle for specific applications.
AMD provided a custom (expensive) SoC and RoT to MS Xbox, now being generalized with MS Pluton in 2022 Ryzen CPUs (and some future Intel CPUs). Intel already offers custom CPUs to some large customers. If a security-sensitive automotive or robotics customer needed an FPGA RoT, and the market opportunity was sufficiently interesting, Intel has multiple options for meeting that requirement.
> This is sarcasm, right? It must be sarcasm.
Intel at least left open the possibility in their press announcement. AMD did not, but they have purchased Xilinx and TSMC is building a US-based fab in Arizona, with "secure supply chain" FPGAs high on the list of early product candidates. It's up to customers to bang on Intel/AMD doors and show demand for FPGA RoT chiplets that support OSS gateware.
> Take a look at the past 3 years of presentations at DARPA ERI
Thanks but I'm good, I'll just take your word for it.
I'm sure Intel can materialize FPGAs when the contract warrants it. It doesn't follow that because military or corporate contracts exist consumers will somehow directly benefit.
There's a direct line between the Microsoft/AMD Xbox SoC corporate contract and Pluton in 2022 Ryzen consumer CPUs, as described in the videos linked above. It's not in Intel's interest to make Microsoft-AMD designed Pluton into the exclusive silicon RoT provider for Intel CPUs.
1. Xbox Security, https://www.platformsecuritysummit.com/2019/speaker/chen/
2. Azure Sphere (derived from Xbox) with Microsoft Linux kernel, OE/Yocto runtime and QEMU emulation of Pluton for CI/CD, https://www.platformsecuritysummit.com/2019/speaker/seay/
3. DMTF SPDM (PCI device firmware attestation to SoC/RoT), https://www.platformsecuritysummit.com/2019/speaker/plank/
Nov 2020 Intel announcement about Pluton, https://itpeernetwork.intel.com/intel-and-microsoft-plan-to-...
> Secure platforms anchor on a hardware Root of Trust as the foundation. Given Intel’s diverse ecosystem, our vision is to offer multiple Root of Trust options that ensure isolation of resources, keys and security assets. The partnership with Microsoft to offer Pluton will further broaden the choices available to our mutual customers.
Hopefully a future Intel SoC will include an optional FPGA-based RoT where customer hardware owners can load the open-source firmware of their choice.
Edit: Pluton will be included in upcoming Arm laptops with SoCs from the Qualcomm-Nuvia (former Apple M1) team.